Kamen Rider Fusion
by scikaiju
Summary: Jack vs Anderson. The fate of the rebels is decided here
1. Chapter 1

Episode 1 

His senses slowly came back to him. He eyes were refusing to focus for him. There were people around, he could tell that much. At least his other senses were working. What were they saying?

"... rate normal..."

"... brain activity spiking..."

"... gonna wake up."

"He's already awake."

Suddenly there was a blur in shape of a man over him shining a light in his eyes, "Oh geez!"

"Mr. Davidson, can you hear me?"

"Yeah."

"How do you feel?"

"Cold."

"That's understandable. Somebody get him another blanket." He started to sit up. The blur helped him, "Careful, you've been out for awhile. You're going to be a little disoriented for a bit."

Sitting on the edge of the bed he waited for his head to stop spinning. As his eyes finally cleared somebody put another blanket around his shoulders. After another moment he realized he was on a metal bed. Out of habit he ran his fingers threw his hair. It was shorter than he remembered and it was wet. What happened to him? "Where am I?"

"All in due time Mr. Davidson."

"Jack."

"Excuse me?"

"That was one of your questions right? If I remembered my name?"

The Doctor smiled and nodded, "That's one I don't have to worry about. Forgive me," he held out a hand, "Dr. Harold Freidman. I've been with you ever since you been in here."

"Howdy." He noticed his arm as he extended it. There were scars he didn't have before. He glanced at his left and scars were covering it too.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Unfortunately I'm not the one who can answer them for you."

"The non-medical ones anyway," somebody else said. "One of your assistants called me the moment he woke up Doctor." A dark haired man in a suit walked toward them. Jack was getting more confused by the moment. The suit looked him over the turned to Friedman. "Everything is in working order I trust."

"So far, but we haven't tested..."

"Doctor."

"Right." He clapped Jack on the shoulder, "I'll see if I can find you some clothes."

"So Mr. Davidson, you should consider yourself a very lucky man. Not a whole lot of people can live after what you went through."

"Live through what?"

"Let's go a little easy on him sir." Jack sat up a little straighter when he noticed the green eye blond in the room. The suit smiled at his reaction. "He just woke up after all. I'm sure all of this is a lot to absorb all at once."

"I suppose you're right Miss Haily. I'll let you two get acquainted. You will be spending a lot of time together after all."

Jack watched him leave the room. He couldn't quite figure that guy out. A nurse brought him some clothes. Miss Haily excused herself so he could get dressed. He was a little wobbly after getting off the table but he was standing without any problem. Jack saw a mirror on a wall and looked himself over. Hair and eyes were still brown, but scars of various sizes covered his upper body and legs. What happened to him? He wanted some answers and he wanted them now.

"Are you decent?", Haily asked from the other side of the door.

"Give me a moment." he dressed as quickly as he could. Grey sweats and a T-shirt along with the mandatory slippers. Jack had been in hospitals before and he never wore anything like this. "Miss Haily..."

"Call me Rachel."

"Ok... Rachel, where exactly am I?"

She came back into the room. She sat in a chair and motioned for him to do the same. Jack turned it around and straddled it. "I can answer your question," she began, "but I need to ask you one more question." He rolled his eyes but waved it on. Anything to get some answers. "What's the last thing you remember before waking up here?"

"The last thing I remember?" Jack thought about it. Various things floated through his mind. A lot of them didn't make any sense. "I was hiking with my buddy Richie." He thought about it some more. "And I think... there was... a... blue monkey?"

The memory of what happened came back to him.

"Come of Jack your falling behind," Richie called back to him. Jack swore under his breath and quickened his pace. Never bet with a guy when his family owns a casino, that was his new motto. "Hey do you see that part of the mountain over there? Do you know what that reminds me of?"

"You say one thing about those stupid Japanese shows you watch and I swear I'm kicking your butt."

"Dude I knew you were a sore loser but come on. Besides you don't know quality programming when you see it."

"Let's just climb the stupid mountain."

Richie chuckled as they headed toward it. They walked up it for awhile when Richie pointed at something, "Hey what's that thing?" Whatever it was it was jumping all over the place. Gunshots could be heard right after they spotted it. "Maybe we should go now."

"Smartest thing I ever heard you say." Before they could turn around the thing stopped. About then they saw the guys dressed in black further down from whatever it was. They were trying to fire at the thing, which from his vantage point looked like a large blue monkey. "What in the world?". The monkey looked at the scene before him then at the mountain around him.

One of the guys said, "Shoot it!". The monkey jumped up and back to avoid the shot. Jack wasn't sure but he thought it was holding something. Several section of the mountain below it exploded causing a rockslide.

"Run!!" Jack turned to run when another set of explosive went off about twenty feet above them. A rock the size of a baseball hit him between the shoulder blades. He went down but Richie picked him back up. Richie looked behind them eyes going wide. He pushed Jack away from him before a mass of rocks covered him. A boulder landed on his legs pinning him to the ground. Jack screamed in pain as he laid there. Another boulder came down and crushed an arm. His vision started to go blurry when the monkey landed by him. Jack looked up at it. Before everything went dark he thought it turned into a blond haired man. The next thing he knew he was waking up here.

"Richie." Jack shot out of the chair, "Where's Richie?"

Rachel looked down slightly, "I'm sorry..."

"No! You saved me."

"You were barely alive when we our search team found you. Your legs and left arm were crushed." He looked at his arms, that explained the scars on one.

"So you people thought I want a matching set!" She didn't say anything. "And my legs were crushed, you said so yourself. Why am I still standing?" During his rant he realized something. "Wait, why would you have search teams out? You were after that thing weren't you?"

"One of our teams were."

"What in the hell is going on? Why am I not in a wheelchair? Why are there blue monkeys blowing up mountains? Who are you people?"

A little too calmly for his taste she answered, "I can answer two of those question for you right now. Like I told you, you were in pretty bad shape. You already lost a lot of blood when they found you. Nobody thought you were going to make it much longer. Mr. Anderson suggested a project R&D was working on."

"Anderson, that was the guy in the suit right?"

"Yeah that was him. We developed an experimental treatment for cases like yours. Well not exactly like yours, it was a military application. Look you have to understand nobody knew if the Fusion Project was going work. Mr. Anderson took a..."

"Fusion Project?"

She let out a breath, "A fusion of man and machine."

Jack laughed, "So am I worth six million dollars now? Or did that price go up because of inflation?"

"I'm glad you're finding this funny," she snapped. "I'm sorry, I realize this is a lot to take in. I mean I spent the past couple month getting ready for this. Before you ask it's been six months since your accident."

"Six months." He dropped back in the chair. "But my mom...?"

She looked down at the floor again. "She thinks your dead."

He shot out of the chair again, "What!?"

"After we identified you somebody sent word to your mother that you died in the avalanche."

"So everybody I know thinks I'm dead?" She nodded as he walked away. "So your boss decides to put my nearly lifeless carcass in a program nobody knew was going to work. That's just really convenient for you people."

"You're right." Jack looked at her as she got up and joined him by the window. "Somebody messed up badly here. I'm going to everything in my power to get this fixed."

He calmed down a bit after hearing that, "Thanks."

"Hey not everybody here at World Inc. is trying to mess with you."

"Never heard of it."

"World Inc. policy is to stay away from the public eye as much as possible."

He snorted, "A major corporation that doesn't want publicity. There some rotten stuff is going on in here alright."

"I don't get down to R&D much, so you might be right. They could be growing a vampire down there for all I know," she said with a smile. "You hungry?"

"After six months you figured I'd be starving."

"That was the nutrient bath we kept you in. It basically feed you and kept your muscles from atrophying." He shook his head as they headed for the door. "We've made a lot of advances in the medical field the world doesn't know about. We want to make sure things are close to perfect before they are released. The bath seems to work just fine, it should be in hospitals before you know it. Probably should be in hospitals already."

"They might be using it to feed the vampire."

"Maybe we'll see it in the cafeteria. Besides there still some things I need to tell you about the Fusion Project. And about your blue monkey."

Anderson entered the security control room and watched the screens that filled the wall. He looked at each screen until he found the one with Haily and this Davidson. They were talking from the look of things, Davidson seemed rather animated at times. Times like these he wished these things came with sound. He would talk to Haily about it later. The more he knew about Davidson the better. An unknown in his organization would not do.

He waved a man foreword and pointed at the screen. "I want to follow these two. They're leaving the room, hurry."

"Over here sir." He was lead to a desk in a corner that had an independent monitor. The guard typed a command into the keyboard and Haily and Davidson were on the screen. The view kept changing as the different cameras watched them. Turning back to the wall he looked for the appropriate screen. There he was, screen eighty seven. The monitor said Haily and Davidson were on camera seventy five, perfect.

He calmly walked over to another wall with a selection of phones and picked up the black one. The first ring just finished when he got an answer, "Yes Mr. Anderson."

"Mitchell, we have slight alteration in the plan. I want the target engaged in section... ," he looked at the monitors again, "section K. Don't let the situation get too out of control unless you have to terminate the target."

"Understood."

Anderson replaced the phone and returned to the monitor. Soon, all he had to do was wait.

"Sir?", the guard spoke up. "Are you sure this is wise?"

"Probably not," he admitted. "But I put a majority of the company finances into this particular project. I want to see if I got my money worth." The guard said nothing else and left him alone with the monitor.

"Wait show me that arm movement again," Jack said as he leaned against the wall. Rachel sighed as she raised her left arm across her chest. As he moved it to the right she brought her right arm up to her face. Then she brought her right hand down on something on her waist. "One more time."

"Let's just go," she said as she walked off. Jack caught up with her. "You need to stay serious about this."

"I'm sorry but it's a little hard to take this seriously. You just told me I have an active military prototype keeping me alive. That, might I add, I can turn on by doing that stupid arm movement."

"And saying the activator word," she informed him. Jack just snorted. "It was done to make sure that whoever was bonded to the system couldn't activate it accidently. I mean we don't want a guy to power up every time he get's angry."

Jack waited a couple of beats before saying, "Well if he gets angry couldn't he do the arm movements and say the word anyway?"

"No... well... ah... I."

"Quite a few bugs you have to work out of this system."

"I'll send R&D you comments," she said dryly. She was quiet for a few yards. "Ok it sounds really stupid. I don't know who thought that up."

"Anybody in R&D watch Japanese TV shows?"

"Why?"

"Just a hunch." They turned into another hallway and he noticed something was different. So far Jack had seen a guard or two in every hallway they been in. So where was the guard for this one? The only other person was some janitor. Jack looked at him as they passed. Suddenly men wearing black and holding guns came around the corner ahead of them. Jack looked back to the hallway they came from, there was more coming around that corner too. He held up his hands, "Whoa."

Rachel did the same thing but walk to the guy he thought was in charge. "Mitchell, what's the meaning of this?"

"We got an intruder. I have orders to take care of it." Mitchell had his gun pointed at the janitor, who was apparently going about his business like these guys weren't even here. "Hold it!" The janitor stopped where he was. "Good now lay on the ground now." He slowly turned to face Mitchell. "Don't do anything stupid." Jack knelt down in case the bullets started flying. The janitor cracked his neck and turned into a red bull.

"Oh my god," Rachel blurted.

"Holy... ," Jack started to say before the shooting started. The bull snorted and charged Mitchell and knocked him back. His men kept firing as the bull started toward the other group. The bull stopped and roared at the guard before crashing through a door.

Mitchell got back up to a knee and yelled into a microphone in his vest. "He's running! I want all teams to intercept that thing!" As his men followed the bull he looked at Jack and Rachel. "Is that guy in the project?" Jack nodded. "Well get on the case dummy."

"He's not ready yet," Rachel countered. "He's nowhere near prepared for this yet."

"Nothing better than on the job experience."

"Is that thing with the monkey I saw?", Jack asked her.

"Well yeah, but...:"

"What the activator word?"

"We don't have one yet. They were going to input one when we tested the weapon systems."

"So any word will do?" She nodded and Jack got up and chased after the bull. It crashed through a wall and into the next room. Was not going to be hard to follow that trail, that much was for sure. Going through room to room he tried to think of a word to use. When he caught up with the guards and the bull they were in a garage of some kind. And in all that time only one word rang through his head. "Damn you Richie."

Jack stood there and raised his left arm like Rachel showed him. A belt with a grey, oval metal buckle with a red face plate and two grey pods at the sides appeared around his waist. Moving his arm to the left he brought up his right arm. He looked right at the bull and said, "Henshin!", and slammed his right hand on top of the belt. He lowered his hands as the belt scanned his body. A black body suit with blue armor around his chest, top of his forearms, shins, feet and the back of his hands covered him. His vision had a tint of red as he looked out the helmet that covered his head.

In the security room Anderson smiled to himself. Everything was coming together perfectly. Now if the project worked like predicted things could go foreword.

Rachel had just come through the hole with Mitchell as Jack charged the bull. He punched it once and then kneed it in the side. Jack backed up then kicked it right in the snout. Suddenly he stopped attacking the bull when he saw his reflection in a windshield. "What are you doing?", she shouted in disbelief.

"I look like a bug."

"He kinda does," Mitchell said, "with those antennas on his forehead."

"You're not helping," Rachel told him. The bull recovered, grabbed him by the neck and tossed him. Jack landed hard on the hood of a car. The bull ran toward him with it's fist over it's head. Jack rolled out of the way as those fist slammed into the hood.

"Glad that's not my car," Mitchell commented.

"Shouldn't you be making sure nobody else gets involved?"

"All teams secure the area," he spoke into the mic. To her he said, "You think I'm going to miss the grand debut?"

Jack backed up against a railing as the bull charged again, "Oy." He dropped down and flipped the bull over his shoulder and over the railing. It landed with a sickening thud on the concrete below. But it was still getting up. "I must be crazy." He climbed the railing jumped on top of the bull. As it fell to the ground from the impact Jack started raining punches on it. One of his punches was caught and he was flung off. The bull slowly got to it's feet but Jack was paying attention to something else in his vision. "I got some kind of meter going crazy here!"

"You have a excess energy build up," Rachel shouted from the upper level. "The belt was designed to do that." The bull swung at him again. He ducked and rolled under the arm and kicked it hard in the back. It stumbled foreword and fell on it's face. "You have to reroute the energy, there's a button under the belt." The bull got up and tried to punch him, Jack caught it's arm and threw it. He reached under the belt and found the button and pressed it. Two mini turbines in the belt stated spinning. After a moment he felt a charge run down his right leg.

"No way." Jack looked up above him and said, "I'm only saying this one time for you." Jack took a few steps back and started running at the bull. About halfway he jumped up high in the air. On the way down he extended his right leg and yelled, "Rider kick!" The bull looked up and his foot came into contact with it's chest. Jack landed on his feet as the bull flew backward and exploded. He stood there and watched as the remains burned. What did he just do?

Anderson smiled at the scene on the monitor. The project worked as predicted. Now things could proceed as planned. "Send a clean up crew to the garage, and make sure nobody enters until they are done. Have Mitchell check the area for any unexpected witness, I don't want this getting out." He looked at the remains one more time. "And make sure he gets the proper respect he deserves. I'll handle the ceremony myself." He left the control room very satisfied with things. All of his plans were coming together.


	2. Chapter 2

Episode 2

A black and white recording of Davidson and the bull played on the wall. It was somewhat surprising to Davidson engage the creature so intensely. Almost as if he had something against the man. He would have to talk to Haily soon about her observation. Ah, his favorite part was coming up, where Davidson jump down a level to get the bull. His finger hovered over the rewind button. It was so tempting to watch that part again, but he doubted his visitor would appreciate it that much. Davidson had jumped into the air, aiming his right foot at the bull. Anderson froze the image before contact was made. No sense in seeing that part replayed. He memorized that particular image as soon as he saw it.

He pressed a button on the on the control in his desk and the screen went black while a panel slide down hiding it from view. Mitchell walked foreword and stood at ease. Anderson leaned back and steepled his fingers. "Somewhat impressive."

"He's a little raw for my taste," Mitchell replied." The only reason he won is because the bull underestimated him. And I'm sure the bull falling on the back of his neck helped a lot."

"He used his environment to his advantage," he countered.

"He got lucky. Personally I want to see how he does against an opponent with a little more skill."

"If things go right you may get your wish." Anderson leaned foreword and picked up Mitchell's report of the encounter. "Remind me, what did he say as he was performing that last kick?"

"He said 'Rider kick' sir."

"Any idea why he would say something like that?"

"Haily talked to him about it afterwards. Something about honoring a dearly departed friend or something like that."

Anderson closed the file and took that in. A small opening into Davidson psyche, perhaps the first link in handling him. He would put more thought into it later. Right now there were more important matter to deal with. "Have the remains been taken care of?"

Mitchell nodded, "Just as ordered. They're in store room C on the med lab floor. I already had the appropriate people called in. The ceremony will not be disturbed."

"Good, double the guard for the remains. I don't want them touched for any reason. Only the people involved are allowed in. The ceremony will take place in an hour."

"Yes sir." Mitchell saluted and left. Anderson reached for the control the moment he was alone. The panel slide down and the screen came to life. Davidson was still frozen in mid air. What was the best way to handle this situation?

After the battle Friedman insisted he return to his room. He told Jack he wanted to make sure nothing went wrong after his transformation. So now Friedman had him hooked up to various monitors in the room. The big surprise was a tech named Armstrong who had him rematerialized the belt so a diagnostic could be hooked up to his new system. There was nothing much he could do except lie there until the test were finished. At least somebody put a mattress on the metal bed since he woke up.

The only thing he could do at the moment was think. Think about how he▓d lost six months of his life. About Richie. About the suits Mitchell and his men were wearing. Jack didn't realize it at the time but the men after the monkey wore something similar. These guys were obviously trained and prepared to take them on. Why did they need something like him?

Rachel came into his view and smiled at him, "How you feeling Jack?"

He looked at the wires connecting him to the computers in the room, "Like a string puppet."

Friedman chuckled, "You think this is bad? You should have seen how you were hooked up when you first arrived." There was an image he didn't need. "Everything looks normal on my end. How about you Barry?"

"Everything▓s green," Armstrong said before unhooking him from the computer. The belt faded away soon afterward. Jack wanted to ask how it did that but he was afraid of what kind of techno babble he would have gotten. But there was one thing he just had to know.

He propped himself up and said, "So, you were one of the guys who created this system inside me?"

"One of them," he admitted. "Is there something you wanted to know?"

"Yeah, why do I look like a bug?" Rachel rubbed her forehead and started muttering in what sounded like French. He asked a couple of people a few times since he saw his reflection in the windshield. So far nobody had an answer for him.

"Is that all?", Armstrong looked surprised. "It was purely psychological. You▓ve seen what you were up against. It was felt that if they saw something similar to them it would cause them to pause momentarily."

"So you turned me into a metal bug..."

"A dragonfly to be exact," he interrupted.

"... with red eyes?"

"We took a little creative license."

"And the power boost in my right foot?"

"That was Tim's idea actually.■ He shrugged his shoulders, "Not sure were he got the idea."

"I'm sure Jack does," Rachel told him. Friedman had him unhooked in a matter of moments and they left the room. She pulled up a chair as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. "I looked up those programs you mentioned. Your activator word doesn't seem quite as strange now."

"If I knew what I was going to turn into I would have tried a little harder to think of something else. I'm telling you Richie's having himself a good laugh right about know." he looked up, "Maybe an ▒I told you▓ so if he could get away with it."

"I'm sure he wouldn't say that."

"You didn't know Richie. I'm telling you if he was in my position he▓d be grinning ear to ear while dancing a little jig."

"Sounds like an interesting guy."

"That's one way of putting it."

She smiled before getting serious again, "I suppose we should continue our little talk. I'm pretty sure nothing in here is going to turn into one of those creatures."

"If it does I'm hiding behind you."

Acting like he didn't say anything she continued, "You already know what the Fusion system can do. It enhances your strength and your speed. Not super strong or fast, we weren't sure if the human body could take it. But you're at least three times stronger than a normal human. That should put you on par with the average Drakan."

"Drakan? Is that what the monkey and bull are called."

"Yeah, they▓ve been around for a long time. There have been reports that theorize that the werewolf myth was based on them." She paused, obviously waiting for him to make some kind of remark. When he said nothing she went on, "We think most of them just want to be left alone and live out their lives peacefully. It's the more violent ones that we're concerned with."

"Like the ones who places bombs and set's them off?" She nodded. "I got an idea were this is heading and to be honest with you I really don't want to think about this right now."

"Fair enough. How about after you get something to eat? I did promise you some lunch after all."

"Ok, but the first sign of somebody turning into anything and I'm turning around and heading the other way."

Anderson walked the hall with Mitchell right behind him. The people they past greeted them, he barely acknowledge them. Store room C quickly came into view. The guards saw them and reacted immediately, one punched a code into a keypad and the other open the door for them. He said nothing to the men or to the others people in the room. Mitchell gave them and the two guards inside orders, "Guard the hallway. Nobody, and I mean nobody get within fifty feet of this room."

"Understood," one of them said. Mitchell closed the door and stood in front of it.

Anderson walked around the group until he stood at the head of the table. He looked at each of the people standing there then at the remains of the once mighty bull. "Some of you might say it was wrong to sacrifice this one. You might be right, we lost a loyal follower to the cause. One who gave his life to the cause

"Let us not forget we currently live a life of conflict. In that life sacrifices must be made. We had a weapon that needed to be tested."

"So why him?", one of them asked. A breach in protocol but it was better to deal with this now then let it fester.

"Who better than one of the strongest of us," he answered. "Not only that, but one of the bravest as well. Would one of you have agreed to test the prototype so willingly? You all saw the tape of his death. Could any of you look at your certain demise and not flinch?" They all looked at each other but said nothing. He knew that would get them. The alpha always knew how to handle his pack.

"Let us no longer sully this solemn moment with why or why nots. We are here to herald this ones arrival to the next life. We herald his arrival to the place were our brave and honorable are greeted by there ancestors. The place where we are told at birth peace is finally awarded to us. Let us announce that one worthy of that peace is on his way."

The other turned into various animals. A timber wolf, shark, lizard and other stood around the fallen Drakan. Anderson turned into a green cheetah, dots of various shades of green catching their eyes. He looked at each one with a look of feral superiority. Mitchell, the lone human in the room, stood a little straighter when his gaze came upon him. Anderson put his hands on the table, his fingernails making a clicking sound as they came into contact with the metal it was made of. The other soon followed suit and as one howled at the ceiling.

When they stopped Anderson spoke again, "His ancestors have been warned and are awaiting him. The example he set in death let us use in life." They nodded and returned to their human disguises. Mitchell opened the door and let them out. Soon it was just the two of them. "Is there a problem Mitchell?"

"It just freaks me out a little when you change like that."

"You can 'freak out' all you want, just remember where your loyalties lie."

"Always."

"Well this slop is better than I thought it be," Jack said. He picked up a spoonful of what he was eating and let it fall back into the bowl. He hadn't eaten much of it. Rachel forced it on him saying he would love it. Fortunately he was able to hold off tasting it for awhile by talking to her.

"It's not slop," she corrected him, "it's jambalaya. My aunt made it every time I visited. They get it close to her recipe but it's always a little off."

"So, what, you ask them to make a certain dish and they'll make it for you?"

"No this also happens to be one of Mr. Anderson favorite dishes as well. And you have to keep your boss happy you know." Before he could say anything a faint howl filled the air. Everybody in the cafeteria was trying to locate the source. It was low and echoed in the room.

"What the hell?", Jack looked at a vent near their table. It sounded like it was coming from there but ended before he could check.

"I don't know,■ Rachel said looking uncertain" Things settled down after a few moments. "Maybe a couple of dogs got into the air ducts or something."

Jack looked at her, "This company develops military prototypes, yet you let stray animals and people who turn into monster just wander in?"

Before she could answer a guy he hadn't seen before walked up to them, "Hi Rachel."

"Hi Terry, what's up."

"Mr. Anderson asked me to find you guys. There's a meeting in his office in an hour and a half that he wants both of you at." He motioned to Jack, "He wants to discuss Mr. Davidson future."

"Nice of him to invite me," Jack mumbled. Rachel shot him a look out of the corner of her eye. "It's my future after all."

Haily and Davidson had walked into Anderson Office. He appreciated the way Davidson eyed the two people he wasn't familiar with. Sizing them up like a predator. He could definitely respect that. Anderson stood, "Mr. Davidson, I haven't had a chance to congratulate you on your victory earlier." Davidson remained motionless, all business he liked that. "Please have a seat."

As they sat he gestured to the man seated to his right, "Allow me to introduced Bradley Allen, my VP." Allen nodded. He then turned to the woman on his left, "And this is Heather Williams, she in charge of the Drakan situation. You already met Mitchell," he was standing behind his chair and gave him a two finger salute. "Miss Haily did educate you on the Drakans?"

"We went over the basics," Davidson told him.

"Good. Then she also told you our plans for the Fusion project then?"

"Not quite sir," Haily admitted. "Jack guessed what the intentions were but he didn't want to dwell on it at the time. I felt it was best not to push the matter."

"Why?", Allen asked suddenly.

"He went through a lot in a short period of time..."

"I mean why give him a choice. Do you realize how much money we put into this kid? As far as I'm concerned we own him. He's as much our property as that chair he's sitting on." He shot Davidson a particularly nasty look. "Of course he wants a say we could have mommy foot part of the bill."

Davidson showed his first emotion since he walked in, "Ever have a piece of property kick your..."

"Gentlemen," Anderson interrupted, "please, let's not have this get physical. Mr. Allen is in the wrong here, you can not own a human being." Anderson leaned back in his chair, "However we do own the Fusion system. We seem to have a bit of a dilemma."

"Yes you do," Davidson told him flatly.

"Jack," Haily said in a warning tone

"You▓d be dead if it wasn't for us," Allen told him.

"Who asked you to save me?", Davidson shot back.

"We assumed you be grateful."

"You assumed I'd fight those things for you."

"Not all of them," Williams interrupted. "We just want you to handle the more aggressive ones."

"I don't blow things up on command," he informed her.

"You had no problem with out friend earlier," Allen said.

"I was told he was with the monkey."

"What monkey?"

"A Drakan blue monkey," Haily informed them. "If you remember one of our teams was after him six months ago. Jack was caught in the trap it set." That opening Anderson detected earlier just became larger. He leaned foreword slightly to study Davidson. How far could he push that opening before the man pushed back?

"Well I can understand Mr. Davidson reluctance. He wants to get his revenge on the person who did this to him, yet he doesn't want to become a cold blooded killer." Davidson eyes narrowed a bit. Anderson took that a sign that he hit the mark. "If Miss Haily hasn't told you we made it our business to track the Drakans, particularly the more violent ones. When we feel they become a danger to the general public we take them out. As quickly and quietly as possible. With the resources we have I feel we can help you find your monkey."

"In exchange I take out some of your problems."

"I ask you to handle them. If you can find a more peaceful and nonviolent way to do that, then I suggest you do it. I must warn you though, the ones we've come into contact with were not so eager to find a peaceful solution." Williams' cell phone rang. She excused herself and stood by a window.

Davidson thought about it for a moment. "After I get the monkey I'm out." Allen started to say something but Anderson held up a hand to stop him.

"Agreed."

"Just in time," Williams said as she came back to the desk. "We just sighted a Drakan in a known human disguise about five blocks from here."

"Five blocks?", Davidson said in disbelief.

"What's one doing so close?", Mitchell asked

"He could be trying to find the bull," Haily offered. "It might be his contact."

"We better intercept him," Anderson said. "Mr. Davidson this looks like your first chance to find a nonviolent solution. I'll send Mitchell to back you up just in case and to secure the area. No need in any innocents getting hurt. I wish you luck."

Mitchell headed for the door, "Let's rock and roll buddy."

Jack stood in an alley about three blocks from World Inc. One of Mitchell's spotters saw his target enter this block from the other side. The plan was to intercept him in the middle. In order to go in alone he agreed to wear an earpiece so he could contact Mitchell in case this went bad. If he wanted to find a peaceful way out of this he didn't need an armed squad right behind him.

Of course he'd be in a better mood to find that way if his feet weren▓t being crushed in these boots they gave him. They told him they didn't have time to find some in his size. A few moments to take another look, that all he asked of the guy. Jack was trying to stretch them out when he saw his apparent target walking around the corner. The guy was even wearing a dark colored trench coat, how clichИd could you get? They stared at each other for a moment. "I know who you're looking for, he ain't coming. So why don't we both turn around, go back were we came and forget we ever saw each other."

The man sniffed the air. "I smell Drakan blood. On you."

"Really?", he didn't remember the bull bleeding. Either way this couldn't be good.

"You killed a Drakan." Four insect like legs emerged from it's back. As they lifted him off the ground he transformed into a blue spider.

"Ah hell." Jack needed back up now. He reached for the earpiece when one of the legs caught him the side throwing him into the wall. The earpiece was jarred out of his ear on contact. Jack knew he didn't have time to find it. He got to his feet and raised his left arm across his chest. The belt materialized around his waist, the metal glowing in the light. He moved his arm to the left and raised his right arm to his face. "Henshin!", Jack shouted as he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. The belt scanned him and he was soon wearing the black body suit and blue armor.

"You had your chance ugly." Jack charged the spider. He jumped to avoid one of the larger legs and punched it in the head on the way down. The spider staggered from the blow. Jack kicked out one of it's legs out from under it but it didn't fall. Instead it grabbed him by the neck with his regular arms and lifted him off the ground. Jack stared into it's multiple eyes and kicked it in the gut. The spider dropped him and Jack immediately jumped back up for another kick. It leaped out of the way landing halfway down the alley. It's opened it's mouth and spit something out. Jack raised his arms to block, webbing covered his forearms.

The spider cut the webbing with it's mouth and quickly pulled up on it. Jack went flying in the air before crashing on the other side of the spider. He quickly realized on thing, it was stronger than it looked. The spider repeated the throw move a few more times. As he tried to get to his feet the spider jumped on top of him knocking him back down. It's fangs were reaching for his neck and he was barely keeping them away. The spider was trying to wrestle his arms out of the way in order to finish him off. Jack risked letting go with his right arm and punched the spider in the head three times. It raised up enough for Jack to get his legs under it's belly to push it away. He rolled backwards to his feet and put some distance between them. The spider spit out his webbing again. Jack grabbed a pipe and put in front of him and the webbing caught onto it. The spider tried to throw him again but he was ready for it this time, throwing his weight back. They played tug of war as the pipe bent under the strain.

The meter started going wild again and Jack let go of the pipe. The spider was caught off guard and staggered back trying to keep it's balance. He pressed the button under the belt. Two mini turbines behind the belt's red face plate started spinning and a charge went down his right leg. The spider jumped high in the air. Jack waited for it to descend before he jumped at it. He brought his foot up and caught the spider in the belly. The charge forced the spider to bounce away and explode. Jack flipped backwards so he landed on his feet and not his head. The flaming remains of the spider landed a few yards from him in a heap. That was two he had to live with.

On a rooftop a few blocks away a blond haired man watched the battle through a pair of high powered binoculars. He snarled when the spider blew up and held his gaze at the metal insect for several moments. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Quickly dialing a number he waited for an answer, "We have a problem."


	3. Chapter 3

Episode 3 

Jack met Mitchell and his men on the way out of the alley. Several of them pointed their rifles at him until Mitchell ordered them to lower their weapons. Jack walked up to him. "What happened? I told you to call for back up if the situation went south."

He pointed back toward the alley, "Got thrown into a wall and lost the earpiece. You guys got a way to find that thing right?"

Mitchell let out a groan and waved a man foreword, "Fuller grab a scanner and find that thing before somebody else does." He nodded and went off. "So what happened? We heard the explosion and came running."

"He smelled the bull on me and went monster."

"Funny, you don't spell like bull."

"Cute," Jack started scratching were the web was attached to his forearm. "I thought I got all this crap off."

"Is that webbing?"

"Yeah, the guy turned into a spider and shot it out of his mouth." Jack headed back toward the street. Maybe one of those World Inc. eggheads had something to remove the rest of it.

"Could have been worse," Mitchell said, "he could have shot it out of his butt."

Jack stopped in his tracks and looked at him, "You just had to give me that image didn't you?"

"Hey you're the one who lost my earpiece," Mitchell told him. Then he smiled, "Come on, the coffee is on me."

A few blocks away the blond haired man was having a heated discussion over his cell phone. "I am not seeing things. He was taken out by a metal insect. I'm telling you Anderson had that thing created. Who else could have? I am going to tear that thing apart. What do you mean leave it alone? You didn't just see... but... it's dangerous. Alright I'll leave it alone until I'm told otherwise." He ended the conversation.

He pounded the guardrail. Didn't that fool realize how stupid that decision was? He would have to head back and discuss this matter face to face. Before he left he turned back into his original form. The blue fur covering his body moving in the wind he steadied himself. The monkey looked into the sky and howled.

Anderson stood there staring a hole into Allen. He forced the file he had into Allen's hand. He waited until the man finished reading the file. He gained no satisfaction as Allen's eyes went wide. "I don't understand how this happened."

"You don't understand," Anderson mocked. "Humans heard the ceremony! There are report after report of people hearing a mysterious howl through out the building. Questions are being asked."

"Mitchell assured me the room was sound proof."

"And you never thought to check?"

"Mitchell..."

"I will deal with Mitchell!", he told him. In his rage he grabbed him by the throat and forced him to his knees, "Because I respected your Father I let you have this position. And I also looked the other way on your other activities. Another mistake like this and I will look at them a little closer. Am I being clear?"

"Understood," he sputtered

"Good." He released Allen's neck and the man gasped for air. Anderson walked away and straightened his suit. "Send Haily in here on your way out. We have matters to discuss."

"Yes sir," Allen replied giving him a look.

Anderson took the few moments he had to get his emotions under control. There was no need for any human to see him in such a state. Haily walked through the door and he gave her a small warm smile, "I'm glad you could see me."

"It's not a problem sir." He offered her a seat on the couch. She sat on one end so he took the other. "I'm assuming this is about Jack."

"He's a rather strong willed individual. I wanted to make sure you're comfortable in your position as his mission operator."

"I handled people more stubborn than Jack before. He's not going to be a problem."

"Good. If I may voice another concern, how do you think he'll react when he finds out you'll be giving him orders?"

"Honestly, I don't know. In the few times we talked today I tried to be open and build a little trust. I'll guess we'll find out when it happens."

"I guess so." He stood and walk to the window. "What's your opinion of him? Based on these talks."

"Like you said, he's strong willed. It's a bit early but I don't think he's the following type. He's also very unhappy about his current situation."

"Well I don't think anyone can fault him for that."

"No we can't. But there might be something that could improve his mood slightly." Anderson gave her his full attention. "His Mother thinks he's dead. It might help if he could call her, let her know he's still alive."

"Hmm. Given the nature of his current situation that could be difficult."

"I know sir."

"But if it helps his moral it can't be too much of a negative. I'll have someone look for her. At the very least we can arrange a phone call."

"He'll be glad to hear it."

"But let's hold off in telling him for now. A lot can happen in six months. I mean there's no need in getting his hopes up and then have things turn out differently."

"You probably right." She got up off the coach, "Well I better get ready for tomorrow. It's going to be interesting to see his reaction to the rest of this stuff."

"You'll be able to handle it," he assured her. After she left he went back to the window and smiled to himself. Davidson just became a little easier to manipulate.

Jack slowly woke up but it felt like he could fall back asleep at any moment. He felt dead tired a couple of hours after that second fight. He was able to hold it off until he got some dinner. Then he went back to the room he was using and fell into the bed. Jack forced himself off the bed and went into the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face.

He walked back into the room and saw Rachel by the door. She was dressed a bit more causally then she was yesterday. "Morning."

"Good afternoon," she told him.

"Afternoon? What time is it?"

"One thirty."

"Oy," Jack rubbed his eyes. "Last I checked it was about eight thirty last night."

"Two transformation in one day, after you woke up after six months I might add. I wouldn't have been surprised if you were still sleeping."

"Is this gonna happen every time I take out one of those Drakans for you guys?"

"Well until your body gets used to it. The nutrient bath kept your muscles from going limp, apparently it does nothing for your stamina."

"As long as I keep it to one kill a day," he said a little bitterly.

"Let's try not to think about that unless we have to. Come on, you can use the showers in the gym to clean up. And Mr. Anderson had his shopper pick up some clothing for you."

"He has a personal shopper? Got to be nice having that kind of cash."

"I'm sure it is." She walked off with him following "You should be glad to know I talked him out of what he wanted to buy."

"Let me guess, business casual."

"Yeah, fortunately Mr. Anderson talked him into seeing things my way. I hope you don't mind, I took a few guesses based on what you were wearing when we found you."

"It's cool, as long as it covers me up." The reached the gym after a few minutes. Rachel told him she meet him in the cafeteria. Something about explaining the rest of the situation to him. Great there was more.

The shower felt better than he would have expected. He spent a few minutes under the spray trying to figure everything out. It made his head hurt just thinking about it. And there was still more to add to it. Food, he would think better after some food. Mom always said the brain worked better after a meal. Jack turned off the shower and dried off. He looked around until he found the bags the shopper left for him.

There were still some fancy and high class items in the bag. That shopper was determined to get his taste across no matter what. Luckily there were a few plain items he could wear. Sneakers, blue jeans and a plain black T-shirt, that would do for now. He also found a jean jacket with a sweatshirt hood built into the collar. That would hide the scars on his arm. Jack looked himself over in a mirror, he looked normal enough. Now if he only felt normal.

Rachel led Jack down the hall. He was starting to get a little more relax now. Of course he kept eyeing everybody they past. Rachel caught herself doing it a couple of times. She had seen that janitor around before and never expected anything. And if one Drakan was in here, could there be another?

Before she could show him anything else he needed a security I.D. first. Going to the cafeteria and the gym were one thing, and Mr. Anderson worked a few strings to get him into the meeting yesterday. What he was going to see next, she doubted even the boss would let that slide. Although Rachel was surprised at how quiet Jack was during the procedure. After filling out a questionnaire and taking the I.D.'s photo he spent most of the time skimming old magazines. Outside of the occasional comment like, "Britney Spears got married? Damn," he didn't say a word.

After that was over with she took him to the heart of the Drakan operation. The guard looked over their I.D.s and let them through. Jack stood there in the doorway and let out a low whistle. Heather Williams stood in a center of a circle of computers. A map of the city and the surrounding area covered one wall. Various people were either sitting at a computer or moving across the room. Hardly anybody seemed to notice them. Jack walked toward a row of monitors showing various parts of the city outside. "Kind of impressive isn't it?", she asked him.

"A bit. Do they watch the entire building from here?"

"No, there's a separate security room for that. Mr. Anderson wanted it that way."

"Again, it must be nice to have that kind of cash."

"It is," Anderson snuck up behind them. "But it's simpler to keep security and Drakan monitoring separate. It would be hard to explain why we have so many cameras outside in the city."

"I'd bet."

"Hello again Mr. Davidson," Heather came up and shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to see you in more pleasant conditions."

"Likewise," then he mumbled, "I think."

"Yes, my VP can be rather aggravating at times, of course you already found that out," Anderson clapped Jack on the back. "But he's good at what he does so I keep him around." He looked at them. "So, Mr. Davidson, why don't you tell me about what you know about the Drakans so far."

"Well," Jack began, "they can look like humans. They've been around for a long, long time. Apparently they can smell Drakan blood on you after you kill one. Oh, and they come in two colors."

"Three colors actually," Rachel told him.

"Three?"

"Blue, red and green," Heather explained. "Blue is the most common and green seems to be the rarest. We think their society is run on a class system based on those colors. With the rarer color being in charge."

"So green's like royalty and blue are the common folks," Jack said. Heather nodded, "So what's red?"

"More than likely the enforcers, or knights if you prefer," Anderson spoke up. "Keepers of the laws that had worked for centuries. Until a band of anarchist rebels rose up and tried to demand a change in

the status quo." Anderson stopped when he realized they were looking at him. "I'm just assuming that is the case. There hadn't been a problem with the Drakans until a few years ago."

"Right," Jack said looking at him funny. "So how long have you guys known about these things?"

"About twenty years," Heather answered. "We've been able to identify most of the rebels in the city."

"Most of them? Is that why one was posing as a janitor under you nose?"

"Actually we already knew he was a Drakan," Anderson said.

Rachel was shocked, "We did?"

"It's great being in the loop ain't it?", Jack teased. She just shot him a look.

"We were assuming he was one of the peaceful one. We were keeping an eye on him, but there was no need in pointing him out," Heather explained.

"Until we caught him in a sector he wasn't authorized to enter," Anderson added. "He was caught on video breaking into a cabinet and photographing files. Security thinks he was copying files based on the Fusion system. Unfortunately the situation during the confrontation made it difficult to know for sure."

"In other words the film went boom when he did," Jack said. Anderson didn't deny it. "Oops."

"You didn't know, "Heather said. "Neither did Mitchell."

"I only told him to use force if the Drakan became hostile. Which it did." Anderson walked over to the map and tapped a small part of it. "Fortunately you were there to help out with the situation. And I'm sad to say I may need you to do so again,"

"I told you I don't blow up things on command."

"I'm not asking you to," Anderson said calmly. "I have a scout team checking out an alleged Drakan safe house. The one you encountered late yesterday afternoon was seen exiting the building in question. A simple look around is all it is. But I would like for them to have some kind of back up. Since Mitchell and his team are on a special assignment I was hoping you would step in."

Jack looked like he was mulling it over. "All I do is sit outside and wait?" Anderson nodded. "Ok I'll do it then."

"Excellent, I'll have someone let them know."

"Come on," Rachel pulled him by the arm, "I'll show you what you'll be driving to get there."

The doors of the elevator opened at the garage level. Jack followed Rachel down the ramp. Looking down the side he saw a section that was taped off, where he fought the bull he guessed. "So you're suppose to tag along on these assignments?", he asked her.

"I'm you mission operator. My job is to make sure you get your assignments and complete every objective they give you."

"And to make sure I come back like a good little bug." Before she could answer he added, "And if you're supposed to tag along where were you yesterday when I was taking on arachna-man?"

"Mr. Anderson had Mitchell go with you, I wasn't needed."

"Have you ever done this before?"

"Well no," she admitted this is technically my first time out as an operator."

"Great." They were met by a man in a white lab coat. Jack could see he was wearing a shirt with a all too familiar Japanese character. He figured he just meet the man responsible for his weapon. "Just a guess, Tim?"

"How did...," he began, "never mind. Man I can't tell you how glad I am to meet you. I mean you would not believe how excited the Fusion team got over the live data. Nobody thought two transformations in one day was possible. But you also used the charge kick twice too."

"Charge kick," he said to Rachel, "figures."

"My little nickname for it," Tim said proudly. "Your ride's over here. It's a..."

"Wait," he interrupted, "let me guess... a motorcycle."

Tim eyes went wide and he pointed two fingers at him, "Dude, your a fan too?"

Jack mimicked the gesture, "No, I'm not."

"Jack behave yourself," Rachel told him. "Where is the KR-1000?"

"KR!?" Jack looked up," You're just rolling up there ain't you?"

"The bike's over here." Tim lead them to a black and grey motorcycle. It looked normal enough, but if Tim had anything to say about it. "Here she is. We based the design on the Ninja, but it's a lot more powerful."

"It doesn't transform or anything, does it?", Jack asked a little apprehensive

"No, I got out voted on that." Jack was never so glad of anything in his life. "But you do have two lasers that pop out on both side of the headlight when you need it to."

"Good to know." Jack grabbed the helmet and got on the bike. Turning on the ignition he jumped on the kick start. The bike roared to life, he could get used to this. He revved it a few times and looked at Rachel, "Get on."

"I was going to take my car."

"The faster I get there the faster I get this over with."

"Alright, I'll navigate." He handed her the helmet and she got on behind him. Jack revved it a few more times and headed out.

Twenty minutes, and several broken speed limits, later they arrived at the meeting point. Jack was grinning way before they got there. First time he was alone he was definitely going to push the limits on this baby. Judging by the death grip around his waist Rachel had a different opinion about the trip. Cutting the engine he said, "You can open you eyes now."

She let go and took off the helmet, "You're a mad man you know that?"

He grinned, "That's what they all say." Looking around he wondered, "So where this scout team?"

"You probably beat them here." Gunshots started ringing in an old building across the street. "They went in early?"

"Knew I should have went faster." Jack got off the bike and ran to the open door. Inside was an open space were the scout team was fighting a blue elephant. It's one whole tusk was covered in a red liquid at the tip. Jack saw a man on the ground trying to cover a hole in his shoulder with his hand. Wasting no time he raised his left arm across his chest to make the belt materialize and he moved his arm to the left. Raising his right arm to his face he shouted, "Henshin!", and slammed his right hand on top of the belt. In moments he was in the black body suit and blue armor.

"Get an ambulance," he told Rachel before going after the beast. One of the scout team members went flying as one of the elephants huge arms bashed into him. Jack got behind him throwing a couple of quick kidney punches. The elephant swung an arm he was able to duck and got a shot into it's gut. He aimed a kick at it's head but it moved. He ended up cracking the broken tuck even more. The elephant screamed in pain and started swinging widely. Jack got hit with a glancing blow that still knocked him back a few feet.

He quickly got to his feet and went after the elephant again. Using his speed advantage he got in close, nailed a punch or kick and got out of range. The elephant swung an arm again and Jack rolled out of the way getting behind the elephant. Waiting for it to turn around Jack unleashed a sidekick with all the power the Fusion system gave him. The elephant barely budged. Underneath the helmet his eyes went wide, "Ah crap." The elephant knocked his leg down and kicked him in the stomach. As the breath left his body Jack was hit with an uppercut that made him see stars as he flipped over in the air. Landing hard on the ground he tried to get up. His limbs were refusing to work. He needed time to get the cobwebs out of his head. Time he didn't have as he felt the elephant come closer.

What was Jack doing just lying there on the floor? Oh god, could he be hurt? Rachel looked around and found one of the scout teams gun on the floor. She picked it up, aimed it at the elephant and fired. The bullet didn't have much of an affect but it turned around anyway. It started to come at her. She kept firing and emptied the clip. Rachel looked around but didn't see another weapon that was close enough. She started backing up as the elephant continued it's approach. "Come on Jack where are you?", she muttered.

Almost on cue Jack was flipping over the elephant. He forced his right foot back into it's chest on the way down. Jack landed between them as the elephant staggered backwards. He shielded her as it exploded. Then he fell to his knees and hit the top of the belt. He returned to normal and stayed were he was. Rachel knelt down beside him, "Are you alight?"

He looked right at her. His eyes seemed clear and focused. He didn't slur a word as he said, "I want tomorrow off."

Rachel couldn't help but grin, "I'll see what I can arrange." She let him get his wind back as she called for a medical team and checked on the members of the scout team.


	4. Chapter 4

Episode 4 

Outside the building Jack was sitting on the steps. Some kind of med tech from World Inc. kept flashing a light in his eyes and asked these really annoying questions. It got real old real quick. "Would you git," he moved his head away, "I just got hit in the head, I'm fine."

"Sir...," he began before Rachel stopped him.

"He's normal, trust me." The tech snorted and packed his gear. She sat next to him on the steps and said, "That was a little close."

"What do you mean? I had me right were he wanted me." She rolled her eyes at the bad joke. "Actually it reminded me of a bully I knew back in high school. He had a mean uppercut too." He rubbed his jaw more from the memory than from the pain. "Any idea why the team went in early?"

"One of the more conscious members said they were supposed to wait for a guy on a black motorcycle," she explained. "One pulled up before we did and nodded in their direction. They assumed it was you. The guy was gone by the time they hit the door."

"Anderson has some bright ones working for him, that for sure."

"I'm pretty sure there's going to be some kind of investigation on what happened. Mitchell hates mistakes like this."

"Good for him." Jack got up from the steps and headed for the bike. Rachel followed close by.

"And were do you think you're going?", she asked.

Jack patted the bike's handle," I am taking this thing to the limit. I was holding back because you were on it." She paled slightly, dumbfounded by the thought he could handle a faster speed. She quickly put that plan on hold.

"Friedman is going to want to check you out after this one." He started to protest but she stopped that too. "And I'm your mission operator, so I can make that an order if I had to."

"Alright," he got on the bike. "Need a lift?"

"No I'm going to catch a ride with one of the others." She turned to watch the last car as it was pulling away. Jack was almost positive she said a cuss word in French. Keeping a straight face he held out the helmet. She took it and got on, "Keep it to the speed limit and I can guarantee you can have all day tomorrow to play with your new toy."

Jack grinned, "Deal."

The echoes of the howl slowly faded away in the house, and the blue monkey quickly reverted back to his human form. He had decided to wait a few hours after the humans left the building. He had come in the back way in case the front was still being watched. The moment he entered the smell of Drakan blood assaulted his senses. At that moment he knew what happened. The video footage from the hidden security room confirmed it. He popped the tape out of the VCR. That old fool would have to believe him now.

Anderson walked the halls of his company, nodding to everyone he met. He went out of the way to be pleasant to the one he remembered snubbing on the day of the ceremony. He always tried to keep his employees happy, Anderson saw everyone who worked for him as part of his pack. And the way he figured it an unhappy employee was practically an invite for a competitor to come into his territory. He would not have that.

He ran into Haily as he exited an elevator. How fortunate, he wanted to talk to her, "Miss Haily."

"Mr. Anderson," she said pleasantly. She was still wearing a more casual look like she did yesterday. He looked around the immediate area and didn't see who he was expecting.

"Where's Mr. Davidson? I haven't seen him all day."

"He's taking a little R&R sir. Taking on three Drakan in two days I figured it couldn't hurt."

"Of course, we don't want him to burn put too quickly now do we?" He gestured down the hallway, "Join me for a walk?" She agreed and they went down the hall. "I'm assuming Mr. Davidson has the KR-1000 with him?"

"That would be a safe bet," she answered with a bit of a smile.

"I take it he found a part of the job he likes."

"An angry Drakan couldn't pry that bike away from him." He chuckled politely at the joke. "Have you seen my report of the incident yesterday?"

"Yes I have, very thorough Miss Haily."

"It was my first mission report and I wanted to make sure nothing was left out."

"Relax, you did fine." She was quiet for a bit. "Is something on your mind?"

"I was wondering about how the injured members of the scout team were doing. I was trying to find Mitchell to find out how they were."

"Mitchell told me about it last night. There were a few cracked ribs and other bones and that one poor fellow who was gored in the shoulder. Outside of that they're all fine. In fact I believe Mitchell is reminding them and his other teams of proper procedure right now."

"I hated putting that in my report but..."

"You did the right thing," he assured her. "Believe me Mitchell would have come after you if you didn't. I've seen him grill people, it's not pleasant to watch. In fact I would rather face a 'angry Drakan' with a dull butter knife than be interrogated by him," he said with a smile, Haily smiled back.

They came to another set of elevators and he decided now would be a good time to part ways. "I have to check on something on another floor, so if you will excuse me."

"Of course," she said

"Thanks for walking with me," the elevator doors opened and he stepped through before he remembered something. Before the door closed he held out a hand to stop them. "Oh Miss Haily," she turned to face him. "If you can convince Mr. Davidson to stay in tomorrow stop by R&D. I believe there is something that could help him in future battles."

"I'll let him know as soon as I see him."

"Good," Anderson let the door closed. Sometimes you had to keep a potential competitor happy as well.

Jack parked the bike in the World Inc. garage grinning ear to ear. He'd been dreaming about having a machine like this for as long as he could remember. Now if he didn't have to be turned into a freak in order to get it. Turning off the engine he got off and headed for the elevator.

He hated coming back here, he wanted to find his mom. But he told Anderson he'd stay until he got the monkey. And he was always told to keep his word, no matter how disgusted it made you. Besides he still had questions he needed answers to, with more coming to mind every day. Like why his first assignment took place in his mom's old neighborhood. It was just too much of a coincidence to him. If the Drakan had one safe house in the city there could have been more. With all the cameras this place had watching the city that was the only they could find. It smelled a little fishy to him.

Or it could be his distrust of rich people. Either way he figured he had time to sort it out.

Jack reached his floor and walked out. The place was quiet at this time of night. He kinda preferred it that way. The fewer people in the building the less he had to worry about somebody turning into a bull or a snake or something. As he approached his room he heard voices coming from it. Jack stopped right outside the door and peered inside. A few of the guys from the scout team were inside his room. What was going on here?

"I still can't believe how high that thing jumped," one of them said.

"No kidding, who would have thought a guy who turned into an elephant could jump that high," said a second one. "Of course anything can get some air with the proper motivation."

"Yeah, said the first one, "good thing we had our..."

"Good thing Davidson showed up," said a third voice he couldn't see.

"Right," the first one said slowly. "That thing went nuts after it saw us. I thought we were going to die."

"Hey Jack," Mitchell came up from behind him and surprised him. "I was wondering when you were going to show up. Man you must have given that motorcycle quite a work out." The other three in the room came out like they weren't saying anything. No point in asking questions now.

"Yeah I got a pretty good feel for her now," he told him. "Almost lost it a few times but I can handle her."

"Good to hear. Did you try out the lasers? That the first thing I would have done."

"I got off a couple of practice shots," he admitted.

"Make sure you do that a lot. You never know when you're going to need an accurate shot with them."

"I'll keep that in mind." He pointed to the other three, "So what's this all about?"

"The guys wanted to buy you a drink," Mitchell told him.

"Yeah man," said one he recognized as the third voice, "you saved our hides yesterday. Me and the other wanted to thank you."

"Hey just doing my job," he told them. Jack wasn't in the mood to be in a group right now. Particularly this group so he made up an excuse. "Besides I'm still a little wiped out. I'm just gonna get some sleep in."

"Ok we'll do it some other time," the one who had the first voice said. "You know, I thought they were nuts when they told us only one guy was going to back us up."

Mitchell slapped Jack hard on the back, "I told you this guy was something else. I'll see you tomorrow buddy."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." Jack watched them leave before entering his room. He took off his jacket and tossed it on a chair absentmindedly. He sat on the edge of the bed and thought about what he just heard before Mitchell showed up. Another question he needed an answer to. And he wasn't sure if he was going to like the answer to this one when he got it.

When Rachel returned to work that morning Jack wasn't in his room. She eventually found him in the cafeteria. Walking up to him she saw he was staring out into space, sitting in front of him was a bowl of soggy cereal. How long was he like this? She stood there waiting to be noticed. It took a few moments before he looked at her. "Never took you for the blue jean wearing type."

Rachel took the seat in front of him, "There's a lot about me you don't know about."

"I know you swear in French."

"You speak French?"

"Not a word. But I heard my Mom cuss out my Uncle enough times that I can recognize the tone."

"You can huh?"

"I may not know what's being said but I can usually tell when somebody getting cussed out." He returned his attention to his cereal. Jack looked a little dismayed when he saw the mush in his spoon and dropped it back into the bowl. "So what's in the package?"

"It's yours." She gave him the brown envelope she was carrying. "You got a new driver license, IDs, a new social security number." Jack raised an eyebrow at that one. "You're technically dead, so the higher ups said you needed a new one. I don't get it either." She wasn't looking foreword to saying this next part, "And your checks are in there too."

"My checks?", he said slowly.

"Mr. Anderson is treating you like an outside contractor. You get paid for the jobs we give you."

"So this is my Drakan blood money?"

"I know it's not a pleasant thought but you need something to live on."

"I guess Allen doesn't want me mooching off the company more than necessary." Jack pulled out a white envelope and opened it. "I wonder what a freelance Drakan killer makes." He pulled out the check and his jaw fell, "Whoa. Does Allen know they're paying me this much?"

"I think Allen would have a stroke if he knew what Anderson was paying you." He started looking depressed as he pulled out two more checks. "Does it help to know that it bothers me too?"

"Not really," he admitted.

"Let's put this in your room. We can figure out what you can do about them later. Mr. Anderson wanted me to take you down to R&D. He said there might be something down there to help you out."

"Oh joy."

It took a few minutes for Jack to find a place to put the checks. He didn't looked all the thrilled about going to R&D. More than likely he wanted to go out and play with his toy some more. Hopefully what ever R&D had come up with would lighten his mood. Judging by how anxious he was getting it had better be good.

Rachel led him to R&D. Showing their IDs to the guard she let him go in first. Like with the with the command center Jack stopped inside the door. She saw Tim talking to Barry by a nearby computer and she pushed him in that direction. Barry put down whatever device they where discussing and turned toward them. "Rachel, Jack how are you doing today?"

"We're fine," she told them. "Mr. Anderson said there was something down here that could help Jack." She noticed he was looking around the room. He looked disappointed for some reason, "Jack?"

He looked at her, "You promised me there'd be a vampire."

"Ignore him," she told them.

"It's over here." Tim led them to a table holding various objects and picked up a grey cylinder. As he handed it to Jack she wondered what use that thing was going to be.

So did Jack, "I'm suppose to poke them to death with this thing or something?"

"Snap it," Tim said while making a flicking motion with his fist.

"Snap it," Jack said more in mock as he did the motion. The top part of the cylinder extended about three feet. He snapped it in the other direction and the other end extended the same length. "Ok, that's cool."

"Glad you like it," Barry said as he took the staff from him. He twisted it in the center and it returned to it's original size. Handing it back to Jack he said, "It's only a prototype at this point. We have a few ideas on what to add to it but this should do you until we get that one finished."

"It's designed," Tim added, "to fit between the handle bars of the KR-1000. So you always have it with you."

"Cool, I'll go see if it fits right now." Jack turned around and walked out without saying good bye.

"Great," Rachel said, "you just gave him something else to play with on that bike."

Anderson hung up the phone. Mitchell stood in front of the desk waiting patiently. "Williams' people just spotted another rebel. She's contacting Haily and Davidson as we speak

"Are you sure we shouldn't send a team in first? I'm sure some of the boys would like to," Mitchell started grinning, "'scout ' the area again."

Anderson didn't show any sign of emotion, "I sure they would. But we can't have these scouting accidents too often. Davidson would get too suspicious and I don't care for some of the looks he giving me as it is. Besides he was designed to operate alone, it's about time he started doing exactly that."

Jack brought the bike to a stop inside an alley opening. He waited a few moments for Rachel to pull up behind him in her car. Hanging the helmet on the handle bar he looked down the alley. Jack hoped there wasn't another spider down there waiting for him. "Are they sure this is the right spot?"

"Heather and her team are rarely wrong," Rachel answered.

"Huh." Jack got off the bike and took the collapsible staff from it's holder. "So how are we playing this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do I go in alone or do you go in with me?"

"Since I'm the mission operator I'm suppose to be back at the command center talking to you through an earpiece."

Jack turned his head to look at her, "Why aren't you?"

"I'm a little more hands on than that."

Jack kept the comment he had to himself and just nodded. As he led the way down the alley he noticed this one was a lot straighter than the one he fought the spider in. He didn't even want to think what that thing could have done with a larger space. The end of the alley was bricked off, a dead end. "Guess there's a first time for everything."

Rachel pulled out a cell phone, "I'm going to call Heather and see if we went into the wrong one."

"You mean they couldn't call and tell us we went into the wrong one?"

Before she could answer Jack saw somebody on the roof above them. The person suddenly jumped and landed right in front of them. The red haired woman slowly stood straighter as she looked at them. Jack took a step foreword, ready for an attack. The woman sniffed the air, "Drakan blood."

"Not again." Before she said anything else Jack brought up his left arm across his chest. The grey metal belt appeared around his waist. He waved the arm to the left, but before he could raise his right arm she spoke again.

"The smell is on both of you."

"The elephant," Rachel said out loud. The woman face grew angry when she said that and changed into a red jack rabbit.

Jack raised his right arm to his face. "Henshin!," he shouted as he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. The moment he was in his armor Jack quickly flicked his right wrist extending the staff to it's full length. The rabbit took the time to tie it's ears behind it's head, then waved him on with one hand. Jack charged in swinging the staff at the rabbits head. The rabbit caught it with one hand. "Not good," he muttered.

Before he knew it the rabbit had punched him with her free hand. She nailed him five times with the staff before spinning in place and hitting a kick to his chest. Jack flew back and landed on his butt. The rabbit started spinning the staff around in some very complex looking maneuvers before letting it rest in a crook of her arm. With her free hand she waved him on again. "Great a kung fu expert." He quickly got to his feet and the rabbit tried to spear him with the end of the staff. Jack caught it and braced himself in case she tried to throw him. It wasn't, instead she was slowly pushing him back using the strength of her legs.

Thinking quickly Jack pulled on the staff catching it off guard. As she stumbled foreword he caught her with a clothesline. Jack tried to use the staff to pin her done but the rabbit kneed him in the side a couple of times to get him off of her. He held his ribs as she kicked herself up. The rabbit swung the staff but he ducked and got in a punch to it's stomach. The rabbit took a step back so he went in to press his advantage. He fell into it's trap as she raised her head quickly and caught him under the chin. Then she leaped at him with the staff across his chest. The rabbit had him pinned against the wall and she was still pushing. Jack grabbed the staff as close to the middle as he could and twisted, hoping she wasn't gripping the staff too tightly so this wouldn't work.

The staff returned to it's original size to the rabbits surprise. Jack nailed her with a head butt and they both dropped the staff. Not giving up the advantage he created Jack kept punching the rabbit in the gut and head. The moment the meter started flashing he spun around and hit a side kick to it's stomach. Unlike the elephant she went flying back. Quickly he pushed the button under the belt. The two mini turbines in the belt started spinning and he ran at the moment he felt the charge go down his leg. Jack jumped up and aimed his right leg at her. The rabbit saw it and crossed it's arm in front of her to block. His foot hit her arms and the charge caused her to fly back. In moments she exploded.

The blond haired man walked up to an old man sitting on an old porch. The old man didn't look all that pleased to see him. "I hope you don't think you're going to change my mind."

"Of course not," He said plainly. He pulled the video cassette out of his jacket, "I just want to show you what we're up against."


	5. Chapter 5

Episode 5 

Jack stood there holding his ribs as the remains of the rabbit slowly burned out. The armor had taken brunt of it and he could breathe with no problem, still it hurt like hell. Maybe a trip to see Freidman wouldn't hurt. Rachel spoke, "Hey," and she tossed the staff to him. "You need a little practice with that thing."

"You think," Jack hit the end of the staff on top of the belt. In moments he was back in his street clothes. "Almost lost to a rabbit. I'm never going to live that down," he muttered to himself, Rachel heard it anyway.

"You're upset because she turned into a rabbit?", Rachel empathized the word she.

"Hey if she turned into a bull, an elephant, a spider or a cobra I wouldn't have a problem. It's just the thought of having my butt kicked by a rabbit." He turned back to the remains, "But I do feel kinda bad about this one though."

"Why?"

"Her human form was hot."

Rachel looked like she was going to say something. Instead she turned around and walked out of the alley, but she did say, "You're taking this seriously all right?"

"I am taking this seriously," he told her. "Do you have any idea how many Bug Bunny jokes came to mind when I saw her change? I kept those to myself." He hurried up after her. Maybe he should have told her the other reason this bothered him instead of that thing. No point in saying it now, she wouldn't believe it now if he did tell her.

Anderson waited in the command center for an early report. Mitchell was hovering near the map, studying it slightly. There were three markers now on the map, two blue and one red. If Davidson did his job soon there would be many more. A phone ringing brought him out of his thoughts as Williams quickly grabbed it. "Hello? Rachel," everyone in the room got very quiet. "You sure?" She put a hand over the phone, "Jack got her."

"Alright Jack," Mitchel exclaimed.

"Did Haily say her?", Anderson asked. Williams nodded in response, "What was it?"

"Rachel which Drakan was it? A red rabbit."

"A rabbit?", Mitchell asked as someone put a red marker on the map at Haily and Davidson position.

"Very good," he said to the room. "Send a clean up team to clear the remains. Store them with the others when they arrive."

"I'm sending them now Mr. Anderson."

He nodded and left the command center with Mitchell in tow. Anderson waited until they were in the elevator before saying anything to the man. "This was unexpected."

"I take it you knew the rebel?"

"Only by reputation," he answered." From my understanding she was one of the rebels best fighters." Anderson looked sideways to gauge Mitchell's reaction. Not even a hint of a reaction crossed his face. The man had a poker face that wouldn't crack, Anderson had to give him that. It was the one of the reason why he got the job. "Maybe it's time to rethink your position on Davidson's fighting abilities."

He still should no signs of a reaction, "I still say he was lucky."

"One victory can be lucky Mitchell. Four takes a little skill."

"You can win four times and still be lucky."

Anderson turned to Mitchell in slight surprise. "If I didn't know better I would think you were jealous of Davidson."

"What's there to be jealous of? The man's a walking weapon with a lethal right foot. If he couldn't beat a rebel I'd be suspicious."

"A very good point. Still, any weapon needs to be fine tuned a little, no matter how good it is. Do you think you can add some training session with Davidson to your schedule?"

"I can put him in. Don't worry Mr. Anderson, I'll 'fine tune' him for you." There was something in Mitchell's voice he didn't care for.

"Just so we're clear Mitchell, I said fine tune not break." Mitchell nodded and Anderson left it there. The man was professional enough not to let it go beyond that point. He would only escalate matters if Davidson did. Given Davidson current temperament that was entirely possible. "Of course seeing how he over came one of the rebel's best I doubt much fine tuning will be needed."

"You really respect that rebel don't you?".

"I respected her reputation," he clarified.

"Are you going to herald her into the next life then?".

Anderson looked thoughtful as the doors opened. He walked out saying, "A warrior of her reputation should be shown the proper respect. On the other hand, she was a rebel. Why honor someone who chose to live against tradition."

The blond haired man stood behind the old man as he watched the tape. The old man said nothing as he saw the humans encounter the person on the tape and forced him to reveal his true form. After a few moments the metal insect appeared. The blond man looked down at the old him. He leaned foreword slightly as the insect took on the elephant. Neither of them spoke until the elephant died. "Nasty way to go, "the old man said. "Phil was a good man."

"Now do you see what I was talking about? We need to stop this thing now."

"I agree," the old man said while stopping the tape.

"Then let me go after it."

"Not yet," the old man told him.

"Why not!? Anderson created that thing to mock the Drakan race."

"Maybe so, but we can't do this alone. We already lost Phil and Kendall."

"Then what do we do then?"

"I'm going to get the leaders of some of the other cells together. Maybe even Christopher if I can manage it."

The blond man lip curled in disgust, "And what is that wanna be king going to do about it?"

"Like it or not Christopher commands a lot of respect. After he sees the tape he's the one who's going to be able to get everyone together on this." The blond man snorted and left the room. The old man was right and he knew it. He just didn't like it.

Rachel sat at her desk typing up her mission report. Jack was quietly lying on her couch. For awhile there he was trying to be overly nice to her. He stopped trying about an hour ago, either out of ideas or figured she wasn't going to crack. Rachel didn't tell him she wasn't angry at what he said. Shocked, but not angry. If that was how he felt then it was no problem for her. Again she didn't tell him that. If making him think that she was angry kept him in line then that just made her job easier.

She looked over the screen at him. Jack still had that jacket on. It was one thing to look mad, but looking like she didn't care was another. "Why don't you take that jacket off and relax a little."

"I'm fine," was all he said.

She stopped typing for a moment and looked at him. Come to think of it she'd never seen him without that jacket on ever since he got it. Playing a hunch she said, "It's going to start getting hot pretty soon. Don't you think that jacket going to get a little uncomfortable?" She caught him pushing back a sleeve to look at his arm and quickly slide it back.

"I'll live with it."

"I never realized you were that vain."

"I'm not," he said as he sat up. "I'd figured it be easier to explain wearing a jacket in ninety degree weather than explaining all the scars."

She had to admit he had a point. "Well you can probably move to a cooler climate after you get your blue monkey."

"Whenever that's going to be."

"We're going to help you find him, that was part of the deal."

"I'm sure Anderson told his people to put a rush job on that one."

This was getting them nowhere so she dropped it. Getting back to the job at hand she said, "I'm almost done with the report. Is there anything you want to add?"

"Yeah I got a question that's been bothering me."

"You were already told why you look like a bug."

"Not that," Jack said with a slight smile. "The smell of their dead sets these thing off right?"

Rachel nodded, "So far that's been the case."

"So why send the one guy who smells like Drakan blood in first? If I was a couple of blocks away I could understand, but I was still in the building."

Rachel didn't have an immediate answer for him, she was wondering the same thing herself. All she could tell him was, "I'm sure Mr. Anderson has his reasons."

"I'm sure he does. Still doesn't mean I'm gonna like it when I hear it."

"You don't trust him do you?"

"Usually it's just rich people in general, but I trust Anderson about as far as a midget could throw him."

"Maybe you'll change your tune after you see your new place." Jack sat a little straighter and she smiled behind the monitor. She knew that would get his attention.

"My new place? When did this happen?"

"Mr. Anderson pulled some strings and got you an apartment in the city."

"Really?", he said sounding a little cautious.

"You don't have to take it."

"Ok then I won't."

Rachel sighed heavily, "At least check it out first before you make a decision."

"Alright I'll check it out. But I'm not promising anything."

"That's all I ask."

"So when do we check this place out?"

"You have an appointment tomorrow afternoon. Don't worry I know where it is." Jack just nodded and lay back down. Rachel finished her report, putting in the question Jack had. For the things he's done so far she felt he deserved an answer.

Anderson read over Haily report with interest. Davidson was asking the right questions. The man was obviously no fool, a blind man could see that. Anderson just had to make sure he didn't receive the right answers. He put that thought on hold as Allen came through the door, "Yes?"

"There could be a problem." Anderson sighed in response. The man was good, in that there was no doubt, but he overreacted to just about everything.

"What is it this time?"

"I just got finished talking to our contacts in the streets. Some of the rebels are starting to notice that Drakan are missing."

"So? Several of our kind are nomadic in nature. It's not uncommon for some of us to just disappear without any warning."

"Not the elephant, our contact said he was never gone from that safe house for more than an hour."

"It's not our concern."

"It's not..."

'No it's not," Anderson interrupted him. As far as I'm concerned the rebels are learning the price for their defiance. The sooner they come back into the fold the sooner the killing stops."

"Are you sure this is the right way to handle it?"

"Like I said they brought this onto themselves." Anderson leaned back in his chair and looked at Allen suspiciously. "You're not becoming sympathetic to their cause are you?"

"Of course not, "Allen fidgeted a little, Anderson smiled.

"Good, because I would hate to have to send Davidson after you."

Rachel stood by the building manager while Jack wondered around the apartment. It was pretty modest, a combined living room kitchen area, one bedroom and one bathroom, and fully furnished. Considering what he was getting per assignment Jack could easily afford it. The only thing that could break the deal was his attitude toward Anderson. "Well?", the manager asked.

"Can we have a few moments alone?", he asked while pointing toward Rachel.

"Of course. You know were to find me," she said to Rachel.

"Will do Mrs. Windam."

"Seems like a nice lady," he said after she left.

"Yes she is. You couldn't ask for a better landlord."

"Sounds like you know her personally."

"I should, I live in the building."

Jack turned his head to look at her, "You're kidding."

"No, I'm going to be two floors above you. If you move in that is." Jack looked around the room some more. "Are you going to take it?"

"Let me guess, no loud music?"

"The walls are sound proof. You can play your music as loud as you like."

"Is there a laundry in the building?"

"Of course."

"Damn," she thought he heard him mutter.

"You can't have any pets though."

"Not a problem, animals don't like me anyway." He crossed his arm and looked deep in thought. "I'm going to hate myself later. Looks like I'm taking it."

Rachrel grinned, "Great, we'll talk to Mrs. Windam about finalizing the deal."

"So how did Anderson get this place for me anyway?", he asked.

"One of World Inc. subsidiaries owns the building."

"Is that a fact?" Jack suddenly grabbed a clock that was on the table and looked it over.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for the bug."

Rachel was positive he was joking. Of course she was positive he was convinced he was right. "Why would the place be bugged?"

"The way Anderson has this city wired and it never crossed your mind your place might be bugged?" He grabbed a lamp and yelled into it, "You hear that? I'm on to you!"

"You can't be serious."

"Nope," he said with a grin.

Rachel groaned as he put the clock back. "Why do you do that?"

"I get bored."

"Let's find Mrs. Windam before she finds out what you're really like." Jack acted hurt by the comment and followed her out. As she closed the door she said, "You know one of these days Mr. Anderson is going to ask for a performance review, and I'm going to remember this."

"Look, I'm shaking," he said. She liked it better when he was feeling a little guilty.

Jack bought Rachel a coffee and they sat on a bench. He was dividing his attention between listening to her and watching the crowd. He felt kinda bad about what he pulled in the apartment. Ok, he didn't feel that bad and it wasn't his fault she fell for it. To be honest the whole bugging thing did cross his mind, but even he wasn't that paranoid. The moment he thought that Jack looked up and saw a camera on a lamp post. What was it his uncle told him, "Just because your paranoid doesn't mean nobody's watching you."

Taking a few moments to think it over he decided the camera didn't belong to World Inc. So he raised his cup in a toast instead of the hand gesture he was planning on. If Rachel saw what he did she ignored it. She was saying, "The best part off this arrangement is if we get a call for an assignment in the middle of the night I can make sure you actually go."

Jack didn't even look at her as he said, "Just remember I haven't signed any contracts yet. And you're not exactly saying anything that's sealing the deal."

"It doesn't matter to me if you move in or not," she said a little defensively." Do you think I want you that close when you decide to pull a practical joke?"

"Hey," he pointed a finger at her, "I don't pull practical jokes. I'm a wiseass, there is a difference."

"I smell death," Somebody behind them said. Jack turned to see a man in a business suit standing there. He was sneering right at him. "You killed my kind."

"Jack let's get out of here," Rachel said looking a little worried.

"Rachel it's alright. I've been expecting this." Jack stood and looked at the man in the suit right in the eyes. "There's an empty lot over there," he jerked his thumb to a fenced in area across the street.

"It will do human." He walked off towards the fence.

"Ok it worked, let's get out of here," Rachel pulled on his arm, Jack didn't budge.

"I can't," he told her, "it saw what we look like. It's bad enough they can smell me, and you too. The last thing either of us need is a picture going around."

She pulled out her cell phone, "I'm calling command and let them know what's going on."

"If they don't know by now somebody better get fired." Jack crossed the street and looked around. Nobody was paying attention to him. He pushed back a board he saw the guy used and entered. The guy had already removed his suit jacket and set it on top of his briefcase. Jack raised his left arm across his chest. The grey metal belt appeared around his waist. Moving his left arm over he raised his right arm to his face. The man before him turned into a green frog as he said, "Henshin!," and slammed his right hand on top of the belt. After the armor formed he said, "We don't have to do this."

"My kind must be avenged, tradition commands it."

"How did I know you were going to say that?" The frog skin glistened as he moved. Jack mirrored the movement. Part of him actually was actually hoping the Drakan would change his mind. No such luck. The frog opened it's mouth and shot his tongue at him. It wrapped itself around Jack's ankle and the frog pulled it back. Jack landed hard on his back and look into the sky. Out loud he said, "Sad part is I knew he was going to do that too."

The frog suddenly entered his vision as it feet were aimed at him. Jack rolled out of the way as the frog landed were his head was. He swung his arm back catching it behind the knees. It crashed on his back and amphibious eyes glared at him. He got on top of the frog and started punching, trying to stay away from its legs. The frog suddenly put its hands on his chest and pushed. Jack went flying off but he rolled back as he landed. The Drakan was stronger than he looked. Both of them were on a knee looking at each other. At the same time they charged each other.

He ducked a punch and kneed the frog in the gut then nailed an elbow to the back of its head. It jumped off the ground to avoid the stomp. Before it landed the frog twisted and kicked him in the chest. Jack stumbled back fighting to keep his balance. The frog jumped at him again and he back flipped to avoid the hit. He tackled it as soon as it landed. The frog used the momentum from the move to flip him off. Jack planted his hand on the ground and swung his leg around. His shin landed flush on the frog temple. He grabbed its head and kneed it a couple of times before punching it in the back of the head. He grabbed it by the shoulders and threw it across the lot. The meter started flashing and his hand went for the button. Jack hesitated before pressing it. "Get up and leave," he told the frog.

The frog slowly got up and came toward him, "Tradition demands..."

"Idiot," Jack whispered as he pressed the button. The two mini turbines in the belt started spinning and a charge ran down his right leg. Jack ran at the frog, jumped up and planted his right foot in its chest. The frog flew back into the wall and exploded.

Jack watched the remains. As with the other Drakan he waited for the guilt to set in. It did, but again it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. In fact he felt less guilt now than he did with the rabbit, or the elephant. Jack was starting to get scared about what that said about him.


	6. Chapter 6

Episode 6 

Rachel stood just inside the fence watching as Jack change back. He just stood there watching the remains of the frog. She had called the command center and followed them into the lot. Rachal caught most of the fight and reported it to Heather. She didn't say it out loud but Rachel heard it in her voice, there could be hell to pay for this one. She turned off the phone and walked toward him. Jack looked startled when he saw her, like he didn't even know she was there.

"This day just went to hell," he said.

"We better get back to World Inc.", she told him, "there's going be some questions about what just happened. I'm not sure what Mr. Anderson is going to say about this."

"What's he gonna do, take me to the woodshed?"

"We better go."

"Yeah you don't know when I'm going to set another one off." He started to walk out there but he stopped at the fence. "I gave him a chance to walk away."

"I heard. I wish he took it."

"So do I." they exited the lot and hurried across the street.

"I didn't think you take on a green that quickly," she told him.

"What, none of the greens are that violent or something?"

"Some are."

Jack stopped as soon as they reached the sidewalk. "You're leaving something out."

"It's a rumor I heard, nothing that's been confirmed." He just stood there waiting for an answer. "I heard something about the green being trained to fight along with the reds. In some case they're actually better than the reds."

"So there're some warrior kings walking around?"

"Possibly," she admitted.

"Oy," Jack said while turning around. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

"I'll see what I can dig up when we get back."

Before going on he turned just enough to look at her. "Is there anything else I should be knowing at this point?"

"No," she said quickly. Something about the way he looked at her said he didn't believe her. Jack apparently decided to let it drop walked off. Lucky for her, but now she was wondering when he was going to bring it back up.

Jack found himself back in Anderson's office. They just sat there staring at each other. Rachel, Heather and Allen sat there with a couple of others he didn't recognized. Outside of Allen's ramblings nobody said anything, not that he was paying him any attention. There was something in Anderson gaze that was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

The effect, whatever it was, ended when Allen slammed his hand on top of the desk. Everybody but Anderson reacted in some way. "What the hell were you thinking?!", he yelled. "Going out hunting and Drakan on your own."

"We didn't go hunting Drakan," Rachel answered. "The Drakan found us."

"So that gave you the right to take it out without authorization?"

"Jack was worried about our description floating around the Drakan community."

"Why aren't you answering anything Davidson?"

"Why?", he asked innocently. "She's doing a good job of it."

"You think you're funny don't you?" Allen leaned foreword and got in his face. "Does it look like I'm laughing? Does it look like I'm happy? Do any of us here look happy? In fact I want you to tell me one thing you did today that made anybody even remotely happy."

"The guy at the bank looked pretty happy when I gave him the checks." The look on Allen face was priceless as he stammered for a response. Jack gave him a slight smirk as Rachel put a hand over her mouth. He wasn't sure but he thought he saw a small smile on Anderson that quickly went away.

Allen recovered his composure after a moment, "Let's see how funny you think you are after we cancel those checks."

"We are not going to be doing that," Anderson finally said.

"What else can we do to make him learn?", Allen complained.

"He earned that money," Anderson told him. Jack felt uneasy at that thought. "There's no point in denying him that."

"Well he's not getting paid for this one," Allen insisted.

"Of course not, it wasn't an official assignment." Oh yeah, like that really hurt. "But we still need to address this situation."

"We can't let this guy be a loose cannon on the streets."

"With this crap again." Jack leaned foreword this time. "Alright smart guy, let me ask you something. What are the chances that I'll pass a Drakan in disguise and he doesn't get a whiff of me?" Allen didn't look at him. "That's what I thought."

"This does put us in a difficult situation," Anderson said.

"What do you mean 'us'?", he demanded.

"Jack...," Rachel started.

"No. I'm the one who has to walk down the street wondering if somebody is going to get pissed off and turn into a monster."

"Mr. Davidson, please relax. I understand your dilemma. I have R&D working on something counteract the Drakan blood as we speak."

"Really?", that was a little out of the blue

"After your encounter with the spider I thought it could present a problem."

Jack looked at Rachel, "You knew about this?"

"I never informed Miss Haily of the project. I didn't want to disappoint you if we couldn't find anything to counteract it."

"I'm sure you didn't," Jack said. Anderson cocked an eyebrow at his statement. Jack glanced over to Allen, hoping he would say something. He didn't.

"Well," Anderson said, "I for one consider the matter closed. I'm sure you have things to do to get ready for your move."

"Yeah, the few pieces of clothing I own are going to take hours to pack." Anderson did smile this time. Those hairs started to stand again. He and Rachel stood up and left the office and headed for the elevator. "Interesting meeting."

"It went better than I thought it was going to," she said. "I was positive both our butts were going to be in a sling in there. We got lucky this time."

"Maybe, but it does make you wonder how much they're keeping from you doesn't it?" Rachel looked at him and quickly turned away. Yup, it really made you wonder.

It wasn't long before Allen and Anderson were the only ones in the office. Allen had quickly opened a window and was breathing deep the moment the last person had left. Anderson was slightly amused watching him. Finally Allen said, "How can you stand being in the same room as him?"

"With some of the people I've dealt with I've grown somewhat accustomed to it. I'll admit it's still somewhat maddening at times."

"I'm just glad you have R&D working on the smell."

"I've had Drakan and human scientists working on it for the past year." Allen stepped away from the window looking confused. "Our assassins would be more effective against Drakan targets if, as Davidson would put it, they didn't smell them coming. I only mentioned it to get him to calm down."

"Either way it'll make dealing with him easier." Allen sat back down in his seat.

"True, but it's not our primary concern."

"It's not?"

"No, the frog is. I am familar with every green in this city. A frog was not one of them. I want to know who this Drakan was and what he was doing in my city."

"I'll get people on it right away," Allen said.

"You better," Anderson told him. He spun his chair around to look out the window. "It's bad enough the rebels have made their base here. I will not tolerate another pack coming into my territory."

It had been a week since there had been a Drakan sighting. Jack wasn't complaining, he had some time to try to get his head straight. The feeling, or lack of feeling, he had about the frog was still bothering him. Why would the frog be any different than the other Drakan. In fact it should have been worse, there was no proof the frog was part of the rebels. As far as he knew the thing was just on his way to work or headed home. Wrong place, wrong time, for both of them.

The only person who could possibly understand what he was going through was Mitchell. Too bad he was usually busy or on some assignment, and Jack didn't trust any of his men at the moment. Of course today Mitchell was busy too, flipping him to the training mat for the tenth time. Not the best time to ask a soul searching question, particularly when Jack wanted to punch his face in. Mitchell leaned down to look at him, "Come on Jack concentrate." That nose was such an inviting target at the moment.

He got to his feet, pushing those thoughts down. It was just a training session, not a real fight. He probably wouldn't be standing if this was a real fight. "You're enjoying this a little too much, you know that?"

"Got to keep you sharp man."

"I survived a Kung Fu rabbit, how sharp do I need to be?"

"I have seen a lot of nasty Drakan in my time. There were a few times I barely made it out in one piece."

"Gone hand to hand with a few Drakan have we?", Jack smirked.

Mitchell snorted, "Only with an armed squad right behind me. Lost a lot of good men. "Mitchell launched another attack. Jack was able to block or dodge most of them this time, "Better."

"And here I was thinking you were having a moment."

"You have to expect an attack at any time." He walked to a wall and picked up two fighting staffs that were leaning against it. Tossing one to Jack he said, "Let's upgrade a bit. Rachel said you needed some practice with this."

Jack looked at the staff in his hands. "That got around pretty quick," he muttered. He saw Mitchell's attack coming and blocked it. He was able to get a few swings in but he was mainly avoiding. Mitchell kept up the pressure until he knocked the staff out of his hands. He smiled wickedly and swung the staff. Jack grabbed it and pulled. Mitchell stumbled foreword and Jack clotheslined him to the ground. Jack used a knee to pin the staff to the other man's chest. "Just for the record, the rabbit feel for the same trick."

"Noted. And I think it's break time."

Jack nodded and got off the man. He quickly backed away from the man in case it was another trick. In the moment he had he shook his hands, "Ow." Mitchell tossed him a water bottle and sat against the wall. It looked safe enough so Jack joined him, but far enough away in case Mitchell tried something. He looked back at the session in his mind, ten to one wasn't that impressive. But damn did that one feel good.

Just like she thought Rachel found Jack in the cafeteria. It was almost a regular hang out spot for him. Sitting across from him Jack put two fingers to his forehead and saluted. "I see you still in one piece, so I'm assuming things with Mitchell went well."

"I held my own."

She seen Mitchell train his men before, "He threw you around a bit didn't he?"

"That's one way of looking at it."

"And how would you look at it?"

"I was keeping the mat warm," he said with a straight face. Then he rolled his shoulder and grimaced a bit "So what's on the agenda now?"

"I'm not really sure, according to Heather the Drakan have never been this quiet. I think word about you is getting around."

"If word getting around, then this place has got a leak."

"Not necessarily," she said a little too defensively. "You battled a couple of Drakans in some open areas. Who know who saw what. There could have been some other Drakans around we didn't know about."

"I still say there's another mole in here somewhere."

"Whatever." Too bad she couldn't say she didn't the same thought. So she couldn't really argue the point. Her cell phone went off, saved by the ring. "Hello? Yeah we're both still in the building."

"Quiet was nice while it lasted." She hushed him.

"Go ahead Heather. Uh-huh, ok I'll tell him." Rachel closed the phone an said, "We got a job."

"Never would have guessed."

"Heather's people got word of a meeting between some Drakans high up in the rebel's command chain. We're going to check it out and observe them.

"Geez, they're really making sure I'm not a loose cannon aren't they."

"It's nothing like that. It's a nice simple easy assignment. After all the stuff that's been happening lately I'm looking foreword to it, and so should you." As a second thought she added, "Just make sure you stay down wind."

The meeting place was an area of a nearby park that was rarely used. Thanks to a photo Heather gave them they quickly identified one of the Drakan. He was patiently sitting on a bench sipping a cup of coffee. The spot was relatively close to the parking area so Jack and Rachel stayed by their vehicles. So far they had been able to watch the Drakan without being noticed. Of course it wasn't long before Jack was bored out of his mind, "Is he here yet?"

"No, " Rachel said flately. It was the fifth time he said that in the last ten minute. He was surprised she hadn't snapped at him yet.

"Doesn't Anderson have teams for this?"

"Yes, but Mitchell retraining all the scout teams. He doesn't want a repeat of what happened last time. And there are no cameras in the park," she said cutting off his next question. "Besides being outside will do you some good. You can air out, so to speak."

"That goes for you too."

"I know, I know. But I don't think my smell is as bad as yours."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well," she said looking at him, "you're usually closer to the Drakan when it's explodes. The closest I've been was when you got the elephant. And you took most of that one."

"Yeah, but how do you know it gets weaker by the time it reaches you," he countered. "I don't think Anderson can find some Drakans to volunteer to find out. Not unless he took them by force."

Rachel looked appalled, "World Inc. would never do that."

"Who said anything about World Inc.?" Before she could answer a scream grabbed their attention. The guy they were watching suddenly changed into his Drakan form. For a few moments they watched as a red ox tore up the area. Finally Jack said, "The damn thing went nuts."

Rachel muttered in French as she fumbled with her phone. "Heather this is Rachel, the Drakan we were watching just went crazy. What do you mean where's Jack?"

He grabbed the phone from her hands. "I am no where near that thing." Rachel took the phone back.. Something told him he had to get down there fast. He got on the bike.

"Heather gave you the green light."

"Like I was waiting for it," Jack said as he brought the bike to life. He raised his left arm across his chest and materialized the belt. Moving the arm over he brought up his right, shouted, "Henshin!", and slammed his right hand on top of the belt. He was soon in the black body suit and blue armor and peeled out toward the ox. Jack flipped the switches that activated the lasers. Two panel on the sides of the headlight opened up and two emitters slide foreword. When he was close enough he pressed the buttons under the switches. Two red beams of light shot out. The ox recoiled from the shots.

Jack swerved the bike to the right and went a few yards before turning the bike around. Racing toward the ox he grabbed the staff from it's holder and snapped it to extend one end. He moved the bike to the left and swung the staff into the ox's gut as he passed. Jack turned the bike around and charged again. This time he raised up just high enough to get his right foot on the seat and jumped. Grabbing the staff in both hands he swung on the way down. The staff caught the ox in the head and it went down to a knee.

He quickly extended the other end and whipped it into the side of its' head this time. The ox's head snapped to the side but slowly turned back to face him, anger glaring in its' bloodshot eyes. Why couldn't he have any luck with this stupid stick? Quicker than he thought was possible the ox wrapped a massive hand around his neck. The ox ran with Jack in his hand and slammed him against a tree. Jack grunted from the pain and was then lifted off the ground. The ox snorted as it snarled in disgust. He twisted the staff, collapsing it to its' original size, raised it over his head and planted it between it's eyes. It let go and Jack stomped its' knee as soon as he landed.

Jack quickly got behind the ox and tried to choke him out with the staff. The ox reached behind him, got to its' feet and flipped him off. His chest armor scrapped on its' horn on the way over. Jack rolled out of the way as a fist came hammering down. He got to his feet and jumped up, catching a shoulder under it's chin. The ox looked dazed. He dropped the staff and charged at it, aiming his shoulder at it's chest and knocked it back. Jack was never so glad to see that meter start flashing.

He pressed the button under the belt, activating the mini turbines behind the faceplate. The ox suddenly charged knocking him to the ground. The ox came toward him and he kicked out his right leg, his foot catching it around the waist. The ox took a few steps back before exploding.

Jack got to his feet and hit the top of the belt, returning to his street clothes. What the hell was that about?

Anderson looked out the window behind his desk. Mitchell stood silently on the other side as his communicator beeped. "Go ahead," he spoke into the mic. After a few moments he said, "The dart worked as planned Mr. Anderson."

He was very pleased, "Excellent. We told Davidson there were violent Drakan in the world. It's about time he was reminded of that."


	7. Chapter 7

Episode 7 

Jack checked the area. It was pretty much deserted now, but if anybody heard the explosion it wouldn't be for long. He doubted anybody would be dumb enough to believe they were filming a part for a movie. Jack grabbed the staff, got the bike back on its' wheels and flipped the switches back to hide the lasers. He looked up to see that Rachel was still standing in the parking area. "We gotta go!", he shouted to her.

"Right!", she shouted back and got in her car. Jack rode back up to the parking area and grabbed his helmet as she pulled out of her spot. He glanced back to see a police officer come into view. She was looking right at them. He started wondering how good the World Inc. lawyers were as he raced out of the parking area. Jack slowed down enough for Rachel to pull aside him. He motioned for her to go right at the next intersection and that he was going left, she nodded. Probably not necessary but if that cop called it in one of them could get back to World Inc. if the other got caught. He had to remember to thank his Uncle for the tip.

Taking the long way around he returned to Word Inc. and pulled into the garage. Rachel was sitting on the trunk of her car waiting for him to show up. He pulled into the spot next to her and pulled off his helmet. Taking a moment to catch his breath he said, "I wonder how Allen is going to blame me for that one?"

"He doesn't have a reason to, we were no where near it."

"He'll say I rubbed against a tree and waited for the wind to change or something."

"Now that's just plain stupid."

"But would you put it past him?"

"After that last meeting, no," she admitted. "We still have to report to Heather. Hopefully Mr. Anderson will be as generous this time around. Speaking of Anderson," she got right up to him and pointed a finger in his face. "Do you mind explaining that that thing you said about Anderson and experimenting with Drakan lives?"

"I never said he would, I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised."

"And why wouldn't you be surprised?"

"Whose idea was it to hook me up to the Fusion system? A system you said nobody knew was going to work. So he has some history as far as I'm concerned." She looked a little annoyed as she turned away. "I'm sure he's a wonderful guy once you get to know him."

"But you don't want to get to now him, right?"

"Pretty much."

"Your choice," she said as she started to walk off.

Jack knew he could have handled that better. Rachel was the only one here who felt like she was really on his side. He really didn't want to tick her off. As he got off the bike he noticed something the irked him even more. "Damn it!"

"What?", Rachel asked.

"I scratched the paint."

Anderson listened quietly to Haily's report. He wanted to hold this meeting in the Command Center so Willaims could give him some instant feedback. He noticed almost right away that Davidson was avoiding looking at the map. Or perhaps the markers on the map? An interesting notion to say the least. Moving toward the front of the map he said, "Are you sure this officer saw you Mr. Davidson?" he looked in his general direction, but not directly at him.

"I'm pretty sure she didn't see the fight, but she might be able to describe the bike."

Anderson walked away from the map. Like he thought Davidson paid him a little more attention. There had to be a way he could use that. A thought to ponder on later. "I'll have our people get on it to contain the information to be on the safe side. Do you know what set the Drakan off?"

"I'm not sure," Haily answered. "We were there for a good hour before it started its' rampage."

"Maybe a bug got into its' latte," Davidson joked.

"Perhaps," Anderson allowed a small smile.

"I'll have somebody go over the old reports, "Williams said. "I don't remember reading that this happened before but it doesn't hurt to double check."

"Good. Miss Haily, can you write down what the two of you said today."

"You'll have the report by the end of the day."

He nodded. "Mr. Davidson, I believe Dr. Freidman wanted to see you after this was over."

"My three Drakan/ three thousand mile check up." He looked at Haily, "Which ever comes first."

"Oh, and I was told the KR-1000 will be ready by the end of the day. I realize the damage was merely cosmetic but please be more careful with it in the future."

"I'll try." Somehow he doubted that he would. Haily and Davidson left the room and Williams excused herself and went to an assistant. He looked around the room for a bit before making his exit. They had no clue about what really happened. Mitchell was personally retrieving the dart, so no suspicions would be raised. He would have to remember to give the Drakan scientist who developed it a little more power. After all, he couldn't rely on the smell of Drakan blood all the time.

He hated the waiting, he hated the fact he was told to wait. The abomination had to be taken out, a fool had to see that. How long were the old man and the others going to allow Anderson to laugh at them? Of course he had to hear the mumbles about their time being wasted. The old man insisted they wait until Christopher arrived before letting anybody seeing the tape.

He couldn't believe all this hinged on the wanna be king showing up. It wouldn't be so bad if Christopher wasn't a green. The blond haired man was finding hard to believe in the whole 'All sects are equal' when everyone kept bowing to one in the ruling class. Finally the man watching the door moved, he mumbled something then listened. Nodding to everybody else he opened the door. Christopher had decided to arrive. Just about everyone started to get on there knees for the brown haired man who entered, everyone but him that is. Christopher's bodyguard entered after he did and the door was closed once again. "Don't," he said to the room, "I'm not worth the effort." He gestured toward him, "You should follow Jason's example. He knows I'm no better than any of you." He walked over to him. "I'm sorry to hear about Kendall."

"He died fighting," he said trying to keep his voice calm.

"So the rumors I've been hearing are true then?"

"Unfortunately."

"This is ridiculous," somebody said. "There is no way that thing can exist."

"Then how do you explain our people disappearing lately," challenged another.

"I refuse to believe there is a Drakan killer out there."

He had enough, "You better start believing. I've seen it and we have it on tape."

"Funny how you're the only one still alive."

"He was observing Kendall during what was suppose to have been a meeting with our contact when it showed up," the old man spoke up. "The tape is from the safe house Phil was residing in." Everybody started looking at each other, hardly a word was said. His disappearance started the rumor of the Drakan Killer.

Breaking the silence Christopher asked, "Do you have any idea where this... thing came from?"

"We have a theory," the old man began.

"It's no theory," Jason interrupted. "Anderson and his company created this thing." That caused a commotion in the group. The old man shook his head sadly.

"What proof do you have?", someone demanded.

"His men are on the tape."

"Why would he do this?"

"Because," Christopher answered, "we dare to think outside the norm." Great, he gave him the opening to give a speech. He fought hard to keep the disgust off his face. "Anderson, and the ones like him, fears the change we bring. Our only goal is to live in peace with the others. Some of them have proven time and time again that they are willing to let live our way of life peacefully. But Anderson and his like have denied us even that option. So we must take this accusation seriously." It wasn't long before Christopher was back to business. He kept it short, Jason was glad of that. "Maybe it's time you showed us that tape."

Rachel stood outside Jack's door wondering if she should ring the doorbell again. Then she thought she heard the mumbling from behind the door and it was coming closer. Jack opened the door and stared at her. He looked like he just got up. She also noticed the flannel shirt he was wearing over a T-shirt. He thought of everything to cover those scars. Rachel gave him a cheerful, "Good Morning."

"I was afraid of this," he said wearily.

She had a feeling she was going to regret asking this, "Afraid of what?"

"That you're a morning person." That wasn't so bad. Jack moved aside to let her in. "Please don't tell me we got a job. I haven't had any caffeine yet."

"No job, I came by to give you this." She put the bag she was carrying on the counter and took out the plant. Rachel handed it to him and said, "A little house warming gift."

"I'm hoping to God it's plastic."

"It is," she informed him.

"Thanks," he put the plant on the counter. "Coffee?"

"Sure," she took a seat as he put water into the pot.

"I got to warn you I make it a little strong," he told her.

"You can strip the paint of the wall with my Dad's coffee, so don't worry."

"So why wait a week to give me a fake plant?"

"I wanted to make sure you were settled in first."

"I came in with a suitcase, it wasn't going to take that long." He covered a yawn and ran his fingers through his hair. "Has R&D fixed that smell problem yet? I'm getting tired of taking half hour showers that never seem to work."

"Nothing yet."

"Great."

"They're working on it. From what I understand they're having a hard time identifying what causing it."

"Maybe whoever working on it should go with us on the next assignment."

"You're not going to start that whole thing with Anderson again are you?"

"No," he said sounding a little annoyed. Maybe it would be better to get this out of the way now.

"Look, I realize I don't have your perspective on this. And you don't have mine. But if were going to be partners I like to think we can be open about these things."

He looked at her for a moment, "Exactly which psycho-babble handbook did you get that one out of?"

"Jack..."

"I understand, partners need to be able to trust each other. Although I thought you were my boss," he got in quickly. Before Rachel could say anything he added, "Can I start the open feast?"

"Why not." She tried to get comfortable, "This should be good."

"I can't get rid of this feeling that Anderson hooked me up to the Fusion prototype, not to save my life, but to see if it would actually work. I also think he gave me the bike and this place to keep me from saying anything about it."

"I can see how it would look like that. But did you ever think that he was actually trying to be nice?"

"Briefly, then I start wondering how many Drakan this is going to end up costing me." The phone rang before she could respond. "Yo. Heather? Hi, how you doing? Quick question before you start." He shot an accusing look toward her, "How did you get this number?"

"Don't look at me, you didn't give me your number."

He had just enough time to down a cup of coffee and get dressed before Rachel made them leave. Anderson's cameras had spotted a Lieutenant in the rebels command structure, or that's what they told him. Any questions he had about the whereabouts of Mitchell and his teams were quickly dismissed. Rachel kept up the inquiries when they reached the street. She wasn't having any luck either. "Look, if the Drakan is as high up as you say it is he might have some bodyguards around."

"Would a warrior king need a bodyguard?", he wondered out loud.

"Jack has only gone one on one with these things. I don't know if he can take on more than one without some kind of back up." Rachel flinched and put a hand to the phone, "Sorry."

"Don't be." He stopped at a corner and scanned the crowd. He wasn't sure if he should be worried that they spotted one so close to their building or not. "What's this guy suppose to look like again?"

"Leather coat, red bandanna, and he's got some kind of tribal tattoo on the right side of his face."

"Found him." Rachel stopped talking to confirm his find.

"I think we found him."

"We?", he deadpanned.

Putting her phone up she said, "Do you see anybody with him?"

"Not yet." Jack looked around but he didn't see anybody else dressed like the apparent target. For that matter wouldn't they dress a little differently in order to blend in better? "You think he's one of those warrior kings?"

"I told you that was a rumor." She sighed, "And most of the reports I've pulled up seem to confirm it."

"He's moving," he said as the target started walking away.

"We better follow, but let's make sure it's the right guy first." She pulled the cell phone back out and hit redial, "Heather it's me again. Do you still have the target on camera? Are we in the picture? Thanks. It's him."

"About time they did something other then tell us were to go."

Anderson was starting to get anxious. They had never spotted anyone this close to the elusive Christopher. He had seen picture of him and flashes of him on the screens. Unfortunately he couldn't point him out without giving away how he knew. Only Mitchell knew his frustration over the situation. No matter, they had a lead to his location now. "Make sure," he said to Williams over the phone, "they realize they are to just follow. Davidson is not to engage unless it is necessary." If this Drakan was connected to Christopher, there could be an army there waiting for them. A small loss if it got him Christopher.

Jack and Rachel followed the target for a few blocks. He still couldn't see any signs of a bodyguard. Definitely a warrior king as far as he was concerned. The target turned a corner ahead of them. Jack jogged foreword to keep him in sight. It looked like he was heading for a construction area. "That can't be good."

Rachel caught up with him and looked around the corner. "You think he's leading us into a trap?"

"That's what I'm thinking. He could have lost us at any time he wanted."

"Same here. Now what do you want to do?"

"He wants us to follow I say why disappoint. You better stay here though, this could get nasty."

"Sorry Jack I can't do that. You're going to need another eyewitness if he starts the fight."

"Stay out of my way then."

"Always do."

Like he thought the guy entered the construction yard. Jack wasn't sure but he thought the guy looked back to make sure they were coming. He should have brought the bike. Hell, he was wishing he had a tank at this point. He entered first, making sure the coast was clear before Rachel followed. He walked ahead looking left to right as she hung back in the shadows. Jack went about ten yards before he noticed a growing shadow on the ground. A yell of, "Die assassin!", caused him to jump out of the way as a red hawk embedded itss hand into the ground.

Jack got his left arm up and materialized the belt around his waist. Moving the left arm out of the way he brought up his right arm and slammed his right hand on top of the belt while saying, "Henshin!" The hawk freed its' hand and lunged at him causing him to jump out of the way before the process was finished. Jack got to a knee and noticed he was in the armor anyway. He could change on the go, that would have been nice to know before now. Wings suddenly emerged from its' back and it flew straight up. "Wasn't expecting that one."

The hawk swooped down, clawed feet aimed at him. Jack ducked out of the way and got ready for another attack. There was no way in hell this plan was going to work. The hawk turned and dived for another attack. He jumped, grabbed the Drakan around the neck and pulled. They both rolled on the ground as they landed. The hawk pushed him off and grunted in pain as it got up. Its' left wing was broken. The original idea was to break a wing by hand, but he'll take any favors he could get at this point.

Jack cautiously approached the hawk, he should have brought the staff. The hawk wasn't backing down. They both threw a straight right punch. Jack staggered from it more than the hawk did. He threw a left hook, the hawk seemed to feel that one so he did it again. The hawk backhanded him, jumped up, grabbed his shoulders with its' feet and flipped foreword. Its' weight caused him to be lifted off his feet and he crashed on his stomach. The hawk stomped down, forcing his head into the ground. He grabbed its' other foot to trip it.

He jumped up and aimed a foot at the Drakan's head. The hawk moved out of the way and started to run away. Jack went after it. The hawk headed for a pillar, ran up it and jumped off to flip over him. He had seen too many martial arts movies to fall for that one. He put a foot on the pillar and pushed off. He tackled the hawk in mid air. The hawk started attacking before they hit the ground. Jack was trying to give as good as he got but the hawk was stronger than he was expecting. He got off as soon as he could, he had to think of something else. It started punching and kicking at him before he saw an opening. Jack ducked a punch and grabbed the broken wing. The hawk screamed in pain as he pulled.

Using the wing as leverage he slammed the hawk into a wall. He let go the moment the meter started flashing and pressed the button. He quickly backed up as the mini turbines spun in the belt and ran foreword as he felt the charge go down his leg. Jack jumped at the hawk, landing his right foot on its' chest. The hawk flew back and exploded. He took a moment to catch his breath. If that thing was a lieutenant he didn't even want to think about the ones in charge.

He resisted the urge to pace the room. The old man, Christopher and the other spent most of the time discussing what they saw on the tape. What was there to discuss? The metal bug was a threat and needed to be taken care of.

"Jason," Christopher said as he came up to him. "You'll be glad to know that we're going after the Drakan Killer."

He only cared about one thing, "Who's going after it?"

"We decided to send you and Michael to take it down."

"I don't need help."

"I'm sure you don't, but some of the others think it might have gotten Molly." He heard that rumor too. Molly trained him, she was an excellent fighter. "We think it would be better if more than one Drakan confronted it this time."

"Fine, I'll bring you its' head."


	8. Chapter 8

Episode 8 

Jack leaned against a pillar, very weary all of the sudden. He wasn't that tired, physically any way. He wasn't even sure if the guilt he'd been expecting had finally decided to show up. Hell, maybe the hawk knocked something loose. Rachel came up to him looking very concerned. "Jack, are you all right?"

"Just a little winded," he told her. You can't lie about what you don't know about, right? "That thing was tougher than it looked."

"I think it might be a good idea if Dr. Friedman looked you over."

"Yes mother." She gave him a tired look. He had to smirk at the sight. His Mom used to give him the same look. "Well that's the second assignment I've blown," he said out of nowhere.

"I told Heather he might be leading us into a trap."

"Yeah, well if Allen says anything I'm punching something in. Preferably on him."

"I'll hold him for you." They both turned to the sound of the new voice. Mitchell walked up holstering his gun.

"What are you doing here?", Jack asked.

"I'm training some new recruits. I was watching them survey the area when I saw that thing. It started attacking and I hurried over to try to try to help you out." He looked at the still smoking remains. "Figures I'd be a little late."

Jack held his finger and thumb about an inch apart, "Just a little."

"Well it's the thought that counts right?"

"You sure you saw how the fight started?", Rachel asked him.

Mitchell nodded, "If Allen starts anything I'll back the two of you up all the way. He get's on my nerves too." He looked at Jack then got a funny look on his face too. "You ok buddy?"

"I'm fine." They just looked at him. "Really."

Rachel walked off while Mitchell called his men to their location. She caught Jack looking at the remains momentarily before looking else where. Pulling out her phone she called Heather and gave her the details. "One more thing, have them get Fusion diagnostic system ready. I want a full scan done when we get in."

"I'll make sure it's ready by the time you get back. There's nothing wrong with Jack is there?"

"I don't think so, I just want to double check to make sure. I'll see you when I get in." She hung up and was surprised to see Mitchell standing so close. "What is it?"

"Nothing, I just overheard what you said."

"You don't think it's necessary?"

"Hey like you said, better safe than sorry." One of his men showed up and he waved a signal at him. More than likely secure the area. "Do you mind hearing an outside opinion?"

"Let's hear it."

"Try to get him a couple of days off. There's more going on in that head of his than Jack's letting on. The last thing we need right now is for him to burn out while we're still trying to stop these things."

"I'm overjoyed about your concern." She started to walk off but he stopped her.

"Rachel look, I'm worried about him too, but I have to look at the bigger picture here. You should try looking at it yourself once in awhile." With that he walked off. Rachel resisted the urge to go after him and argue the point. She had to treat Jack as a human, not like some cog in a machine. She knew him too well by now to do otherwise. Although looking at Jack current state, a few days off might not be such a bad idea.

Anderson spent most of the day in his personal gym. He had reverted to his Drakan form, a green cheetah, the moment the doors had closed. His anger had nearly overwhelmed him when he read Haily's report. Allen, who had entered later, chose to remain standing by the door. He had seen him vent before, making the mistake of getting too close only once. Allen still had the scars on his chest as a constant reminder.

He could only think of how close they were to Christopher. That thought fueled his frustrations as he tore apart a human shaped practice dummy. His claw ripped through the material as he pictured various faces on the dummy: Davidson, Haily, Mitchell, Christopher. Allowing an animal rage to over take him, Anderson grabbed the dummy by the head and shoulder. Growling he sank his teeth into the dummy's neck and tore the material out. He spat it out of his mouth and looked at what was left of the dummy. Slowly he regained control of his emotions and calmed down.

Turning away from the dummy he changed into his human disguise. Allen walked foreword offering a towel. Anderson wiped his face and looked at the man. "They say venting is good for the soul. I never really believed it until now. We had a link to Christopher and we lost it." He threw the towel down, feeling the frustration rise again. "Did Mitchell confirm their story?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Lovely," he muttered. "What do you know about this rebel?"

"Not much, information about Christopher's inner circle is pretty scarce. From what I was able to find out he was an excellent tracker. Chances were he knew he was being followed the moment Davidson and Haily set after him."

"Christopher knows how to pick his lieutenants, I can not fault him on that. Hopefully this loss will hurt him in some way. Is there any thing else about the situation I should be aware of?"

"Yes. Haily, on Mitchell's recommendation I might add, is asking for some days off for Davidson. Naturally we can't..."

"Give him a week, "Anderson interrupted. "I am not in the mood to see him at the moment."

"Understood," Allen turned to leave.

"One more thing, the frog." He hesitated a little before answering.

Then he quickly answered, "I'm still working on it. Some of the Drakan I've contacted have been a tad secretive when asked if they had one of their pact visiting the city."

"Well keep on it. One of them is bound to let something slip sooner or later." Anderson looked at dummy and the pieces of equipment destroyed during his emotional state. "And make sure everything in here is replaced."

He watched Michael drag off the last body off. This was a level of frustration he never knew was possible. Snapping these human like the twigs they were was not satisfying, there was no challenge. "Don't worry, it'll come to us eventually," Michael said coming back into the room. "Even Anderson can't ignore these losses."

"Do you actually think Anderson cares about these humans?" Michael just shrugged. There had to be a way to make this more interesting. "Would you care to make a wager on how many more he will send before he sets the metal bug loose?"

Rachel paced the lobby waiting for Jack to show up. He did not sound all that happy when she called and told him Anderson wanted him to come in for a job. She told Anderson that she doubted he would come in. But she thought it would be better to head him off first in case he did. Try to lessen some of that anger that would be obviously building up on the way here. Oh hell, there he was. Jack stormed through the front doors and she got in his path. "Hi.", he went right past her, "Ah, Jack." That went about as well as expected.

He walked right past the elevator and headed for the stairs. She hoped he was going to take out most of his frustrations on the stairs. Rachel just gotten things calmed down with Anderson about that rebel Lieutenant. She did not need this wreaking that right now. Jack stood a flight above looking confused. He looked at her and she offered, "Command Center." He nodded and went on. Rachel hurried after him, maybe she could act as a buffer when they got there. If she was lucky she might calm him down before he got there. Unfortunately Jack noticed Anderson in the hallway leading to the center.

"You gave me a week," he shouted as he walked toward Anderson. She hurried up and got in front of him.

"I realize that Mr. Davidson," he replied calmly, "and I fully intended to give you the full seven days to work through your problems." Jack shot her a look before Anderson continued. "But events have occurred that made me call you in early."

"This better be good." They followed him and Jack turned to her and whispered, "My problems?"

"I had to tell him something to get you the time off." Jack grunted and left it alone. She made a mental note to work on that trust thing they were supposed to have.

Anderson let them enter the Command Center first before starting the briefing. "The situation, like I told you, is rather dire. While you were gone I sent a team to investigate a report of activities at an old Drakan stronghold. That team and the three we sent after them soon disappeared."

"Whoa," Jack features soften slightly.

"Mitchell was ready to go in with a full assault team when we found a survivor. He was in shock and a lot of what he said was gibberish, but we were able to get a description of his assailant. A Drakan monkey," Anderson studied Jack as he said, "reportedly a blue one."

Rachel looked at Jack as soon as he said that. There was a glint of cold anger that passed through his eyes. "Are we sure it's a blue Drakan monkey?", she asked.

"As sure as we can be," he replied.

"Were is he?", Jack demanded.

"Jack we don't know if he still there," she told him.

"You think I care."

"I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Don't worry I'll get my hopes up after he's a burning pile of trash. Now where is he?"

"Surprisingly enough, the same safe house were we located the elephant," Anderson informed them. Jack's eyes narrowed for some reason.

"Figures," Jack turned and started to leave. He stopped just long enough to turn to her and say, "You coming?"

"I'll get you a report as soon as I can."

Jack hurried across town, or at least he tried to. Was traffic slower today for some reason, or was fate trying to keep him from the monkey? Finally he reached the safe house. He decided to wait for Rachel to pull up before heading for the house. For some reason she got in his way. "Now what?"

"You can't go in there angry."

"I like to think of it as being properly motivated. Now if you will excuse me."

"Jack will you stop and think about this for a moment."

"What is your problem? I'm finally excited about a mission for once. You should be pointing me in the right direction and saying 'Go'."

"Four teams went in here and only one man survived. This could be a trap." He looked at her. "Listen to me, the rebels were quiet for a week. One of the rebel leader's top men was spotted in plain sight without any guards. Now there's activity at a place we already know about. If they know about you this could be exactly what they want."

"If the monkey is in there then I'm not going to disappoint them." He moved passed her and went up the steps to the door. When he got there he found it was unlocked. Jack glanced over at Rachel who was standing next to him. Maybe he should take that trap thing a little more seriously. He opened the door and was immediately assaulted by a stench. "Son of a ..." he said while covering up his nose and mouth. "Think I'm going to be sick."

"That's it I'm calling for back up," Rachel told him.

"Wait," Jack thought he saw something in a corner. It looked like it was sitting up and dressed like one of the scout teams. He cautiously went for him, making sure there wasn't going to be any other surprises. Jack kneeled down next to the shape. It was one of the previous team members. "Hey, can you hear me?", he patted the man's face. It was cold, "Damn."

"Jack, is he alright?"

"Call for a wagon."

"About time you got here," said a voice from above.

Jack and Rachel looked up. On the second floor kneeling on the railing was a blue monkey. Jack felt the anger start to rise and he wasn't stopping it. It was the same Drakan, there was no doubt in his mind. He raised his left arm across his chest and the grey metal belt appeared around his waist. Jack moved the arm out of the way and raised his right arm. "Hen... ," was all he got out before something that looked like a claw came at him. Everything went dark soon after.

The Drakan that knocked out Jack, a blue scorpion, turned to her. Before she knew it he returned to his human disguise, pulled her in and put a pair of handcuff around her wrist. The monkey jumped down and cuffed Jack's hands around his back. Then they were taken upstairs, thrown in a room and the door locked. She sat there waiting for either them to come back or for Jack to wake up. He started to stir after what she guessed was an half hour, "Oy."

"You all right?"

"Was there a elephant standing on my head?", he asked while slowly sitting up.

"Ok," he looked around the room. "Now why are we still alive?"

"I heard them say I might know something since I'm your handler." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Their words not mine. You, I have no clue. Maybe they think you know something too."

"Me? I'm just the loaded gun. Well loaded foot anyway," he said while getting the cuffs under his leg. It wasn't long before the handcuffs were right in front of him. Jack studied the cuffs for a bit. "Trust me, they're going to parade me around a bit before killing me. Hmm... thirty year old model." He started looking around the room. Jack saw something the caught his interest, "That's doable."

He grabbed two wires and bent the end on one of them. She saw him stick them into the cuff's keyhole in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me? There is no way you can open these thing like that." Jack ignored her and kept working. In a matter of moments he had a hand free and was working on the other one. "How'd you do that?"

"My Uncle was a lock smith, well he was during his day job. Let's say he taught me a few things before Mom could stop him." Both of his hands were free, "Let me see yours."

"When were you planning on seeing this Uncle of your again?"

"Sometimes in the next six to eight years, it's gonna depend on how well he behaves." Her cuffs were off soon after.

Rachel went to the door and listened. "Did your Uncle teach you how to unlock a door?"

"Henshin!"

She turned in surprise. It wasn't long before she was staring into the red eyes of the insect style helmet. Jack walked up to the door and kicked it down. "That works to."

Jack led Rachel through the hallway. It didn't take him long to realize they were on the second floor. Good thing he decided to stay in armor. They reached the stairway, still no Drakan in sight. Not that deep down he was really disappointed or anything. Part of him wanted a crack at the one who sucker punched him after he got the monkey. "I don't suppose you have your phone?", he asked.

"They took it from me. The monkey threw it against a wall to make sure I couldn't use it."

"Great." Jack headed down the stairs first to make sure the floor was clear. "Head back to World Inc. and get Mitchell and his team. I'll stay here to cover you. No arguing."

"I don't like this," she told him.

"I'm just doing what you guys pay me for. Tell Mitchell I'll try to save him some of the second one."

"You," a feral voice said. The monkey was standing in another door.

Jack pointed to the upper level," Let's take it up." The monkey nodded once and jumped to the upper level. Jack raced up the stairs. The monkey took a swing that he ducked. The stood there looking at each other.

Then the monkey said, "Now you will pay for what you did to my partner."

At the same time he said, "You're dead after what you did to Richie." They both took a beat to figure out what the other's comment meant. Then they both attack screaming. The fight was primal, nothing fancy, no jumping, no flipping. Just straight punching and kicking. Each one was trying to tear the other apart and neither was backing down. The monkey grabbed him around the throat. Jack pounded its arms until they gave just a little, grabbing the monkey's wrist he removed its hands. Quickly as he could Jack grabbed its left arm. Then he slammed his other hand into the point of its elbow. He smiled behind the helmet as he heard the snap. The monkey grimaced in pain as it clutched it's now useless arm. Jack flexed the fingers on his left hand and said, "One limb down, two to go."

Rachel should have left when the fight started. But she was Jack mission operator, it was her job to see the fight through. She was amazed and a little sickened at the way Jack was fighting. He never looked that savage before. It almost seemed like he was enjoying it.

The door opened and the light blinded her. She blinked a few times and saw a man standing there. Her blood went cold, it was the human disguise for the scorpion. He closed the door quickly and a blue scorpion tail emerged from under his coat. It soon turned all the way all the way and came at her. Rachel ducked the initial strike, found a broken piece of scrape wood and turned to face it. It charged at her. Rachel raised the piece of wood over her head stabbed at it. The jagged pointed end pierced the scorpion in one of its eyes. It back up and screamed in pain as it pulled the piece out. It snapped its mandibles angrily and came at her again.

He never faced anything that fought like the metal bug before. There was a fury in it he wasn't expecting. It kept attacking his broken arm when it got close enough. For the first time in a long time he felt fear. Jason set himself, if he was going to die he was going to take that thing with him. He jumped up and kicked it under the chin. While it staggered from the blow he ran toward a hole in the wall. Reaching in with his good arm he pulled out a detonator. The bug hit him against the wall, making him drop it. Then the bug stepped on it and threw him to the railing.

"Nothing goes boom today!" It ran over to him quickly and started punching him down. It backed away and he spit some coppery tasting spit out of his mouth. He wasn't sure but it felt like a tooth came out with it. "Oh man," it sounded disappointed, "looks like play time's over. Guess I was wrong, one thing is going boom today." The bug reached for its belt when they heard the scream. The both looked, Michael had just grabbed the female and threw her against the far wall. He was bleeding from one eye and looked like he was going in for the kill. The bug looked at him then to the scene below and back at him. "Damn," it said before jumping over the railing.

Jack landed and ran at the scorpion, catching it's tail as it was throwing it at Rachel. He pulled the tail and jerked the scorpion away from her. He had to end this thing fast and get back to the monkey. It snapped its claws at him, keeping him away. He also had to remember to avoid that tail. Seeing an opening Jack dodged a claw and hit a solid punch to the gut. He grabbed the scorpion's arm and tried to break it but the tail swept his legs out from under him. He rolled away from as the stinger struck. Jack stomped the tail after it was stuck in the floor, the scorpion screamed in pain.

A sharp pain started growing in his gut. He looked at the meter, it was almost on continuous flash. That couldn't be good. Jack threw the scorpion away and pressed the button under the belt, activating the mini turbines in it. He clutched at his leg as the charge went down his leg. Jack looked down and could see the electricity go down his leg. He'd worry about it later. Jack jumped up and kicked his right foot into the scorpion's chest. Arcs of electricity could be seen as the foot made contact. The scorpion flew back hard against the wall and exploded.

Jack grabbed his leg and went down momentarily. He probably couldn't use the kick against the monkey any time soon. That was alright he would just break its neck instead. Ignoring the pain, he ran back up the stairs as fast as his leg would let him. The monkey wasn't any where in sight. He did a room by room search before heading back to the stairs. Looking down he could see the door was still closed. How did the monkey get away? Jack slammed his fist onto the railing, cracking it, "Damn it!"


	9. Chapter 9

Episode 9

He kept to the back alleys and the quieter streets he could find. Jason didn't want to draw any more attention to himself as possible. In his human disguise his broken arm looked much worse. The last thing he needed was one of the humans asking about his condition. Leaning against a wall on his good arm he thought about the fight. He had dreamed of tearing the metal bug apart with his own hands almost nightly.

Then a few hours ago he met up with the real thing. To think he was disappointed after it went down after one blow from Michael. Jason wondered how long he lasted against the bug. Maybe Michael was able to do what he couldn't do. Then he remembered the ferocity the bug fought with and doubted it. Jason got off the wall and looked behind him. No sign of Michael or the bug, a mixed blessing.

Quickly crossing the street he was relieved that the last leg of his journey back to Christopher's temporary base was almost over. Jason was surprised he felt relieved about approaching anything dealing with the would be king. He must be desperate. The guards saw him, one went out to him and the other went inside. Soon the old man and Christopher came out. Christopher got under his good arm, always putting on a show for the troops. "What happened?", the old man asked.

"We...," he tried to catch his breath, "miscalculated slightly."

"Where's Michael?", somebody else asked, he wasn't sure who.

"The last I saw him, he was fighting the metal bug."

"What happened exactly," The old man asked him. He gave them the short version of what he knew.

"So you left Michael to face that thing alone?", someone else accused.

"He did the right thing," Christopher told the man. "We got something a little more valuable than a victory, information we didn't have before." All things considered he would rather have a dead bug. "Let's get him inside and fixed up. After you rest I want to know everything you can remember about this metal bug." He nodded, he was in no shape to do anything else.

Jack stared at the ceiling as he waited for Friedman, going over the things that happened in his head. After he took out the scorpion and found out the monkey got away he checked on Rachel. Mitchell and an assault team busted in a few minutes later. Jack made a joke about him being late again. Mitchell took one look at them and immediately called for a med team. Quicker than he thought was possible Mitchell and the med team had both of them in an ambulance and speeding away from the safe house.

When they reached World Inc. Friedman, Barry and some others he recognized practically swamped him the moment the doors opened. He remembered seeing a rush of hallways and faces before being delivered to some kind of diagnostic room. There Friedman and Barry performed every kind of scan they had on his leg. Then they took him to another room and left him there to rest. Eventually Friedman came back looking over some paper work. " 'Bout time doc," he said while sitting up. Big mistake, he gritted his teeth as the pain shot down his leg.

"Careful Jack," he rushed over and helped him to a sitting position. "Your leg going to be a little tender for awhile."

"So what did I do?"

"Basically you cooked the inside of your leg."

"Tell me you're kidding."

"Maybe cooked the wrong term, more like you seared it. Like you would a really rare steak."

"That's not helping doc."

Friedman chuckled, "Sorry. You have some shielding around the conductors in you leg. Normally it protects your, and forgive my phrasing, organic parts when you use the charge kick." Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Tim's nickname for his weapon got around. "However because you let the energy build up get so high this time it overloaded the shielding. Fortunately the charge went down you leg rather quickly or the damage could have been much worse." He sighed heavily, "Maybe if Barry was here to explain the technical aspects."

"No offense but I failed technical mumbo jumbo in school." Friedman snorted in response. "So how long before my leg get's better?"

"Like I said the damage wasn't that bad, but it's going to take awhile to heal. Of course we could speed up the process by putting you in the nutrient bath for a couple of days." Jack shook his head, quickly shooting that idea down. "Then again it might be better to let things heal naturally."

"Tim owes me five bucks," said a voice from behind Friedman. Rachel stood in the doorway. "He actually thought you think about it."

"Like you know me that well."

"You just proved me right."

"Damn, she's right."

"I'll see if I can find you some crutches Jack." and Friedman left them alone. She came closer to his bed. Jack noticed the brace on her left wrist.

"How bad is it?"

"It's just sprained," she said while holding it with her right. "I'll be fine in a couple of days."

"That's better than what I'm doing."

"I heard." She was quiet for a moment, "Jack, thanks for the save."

He waved it off, "I owed you one from the elephant."

"Why did you pick me over the monkey? If you got him you would have been out of here."

"Yeah I..." He found the floor real interesting for a bit. Why did he pick her over the monkey? "I didn't want to listen to Anderson try to guilt me into staying longer if you bought it."

Rachel had a smirk on her face, "I thought as much. Thanks, you just won me another five from tim. I tell you that boy needs to get out more."

"No kidding... wait, what did he say?"

"Nothing worth repeating. I'll pull my car up front then I'll take you home." She left the room before he could argue. Jack was left alone with his thoughts again. He went back to thinking about the fight with the monkey.

"Should have broken it's legs first."

Anderson stood in the lobby waiting for them to show. Allen was trying to get his attention about something and Mitchell was scanning the area. He knew it was out of habit, Anderson doubted he had anything to worry about in his own building. But that was what he paid the man for. Not that he had anything to worry about from the humans.

The elevator doors opened up and Haily and Davidson walked out, well Haily did anyway. It was a little strange to see Davidson hobble out on crutches, but it meant he wasn't invincible. Just like he had the Fusion system designed. He walked up to them and the other followed. "Mr. Davidson," both of them looked surprised that he was there, "I wanted to congratulate you on your mission."

"The monkey got away."

"True, but from what I understand during the battle you were presented with two options, be a hero or be selfish. You choose the hero option and saved Miss Haily, and for that I am grateful. She would be very hard to replace." Haily blushed slightly. Davidson looked at her.

"Told you he'd try to guilt me." Haily shot him a rather nasty look. Best not inquire about that comment.

"I'm adding a couple of weeks to your time off to heal up some. I'm sure we can handle the Drakan while you are away."

"Don't worry buddy," Mitchell added, "we'll find monkey boy for you as soon as we can."

"Right now I'm just worried about getting my bike."

"He doesn't know?", Anderson asked Haily.

"He doesn't know what?", Davidson asked cautiously.

"The bike's here man," Mitchell told him. "I had somebody get it and put it in the garage while you were being checked out."

"Somebody touched my bike?!" Anderson saw a similar look when he told him they located the monkey.

"I was waiting for the pain killers to kick in before I told him," Haily explained to them.

"What's the fuss about?", Allen asked. "It's just a machine."

"Just a machine?", Davidson and Mitchell said at the same time. Both of them looked at Allen like he grew a second head. Humans.

"No offense Mr. Davidson, but you are in no conditions to be driving the KR-1000. Don't worry, it'll be safe here until you return."

"I'll have a guard on it twenty four seven," Mitchell joked.

"Triple guard," Davidson said. Mitchell smiled but Anderson was positive he was being serious.

"Well I won't keep you any longer. Miss Haily, I want you to take a week off to heal up yourself." She nodded while Davidson grunted something. As they left the building Mitchell leaned in.

"What are you going to do if he gets the monkey?"

"I'll worry about that when we get to it. It was a fluke we found him this time, and it will be awhile before we locate him again. That I am quite sure of. I'll take a look at that file now," he held out a hand. Allen placed the folder he was carrying in it. He scanned the contents briefly before closing it. "Is this information accurate?"

"I wouldn't have brought it to your attention if I wasn't sure." Anderson looked at the door Davidson went through.

"Should I get a team together?", Mitchell asked.

"No, not just yet. I think it would be better if we waited for Davidson." He handed the file back to Allen. "Keep a close eye on this Allen. I want to know the minute anything changes."

"Hey." Rachel looked up from her desk. Jack was standing in her doorway. She wasn't expecting to see him today.

"Hi. What are you doing here?"

"I guess my extra time is up. Heather called me this morning. Something about a big job they needed me on."

"I told them your leg was still a little stiff." She got up to help him when he started for the couch. He waved her off. So she leaned against the edge of her desk.

"Nothing I can't handle." Jack sat on the couch like nothing was wrong. But she saw he was keeping his leg a little straight. "So how big a mission is this?"

"We think we located the rebel leader."

He whistled, "That's pretty big."

"We get him and this war is close to being over. Unless, of course, he has somebody just as good as he is as second in command."

"Hopefully that was bird boy. Some how I don't think we're that lucky."

"You never know. So really, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, well better than what I was."

"Are you still having that nightmare?"

"Why did I tell you about that?", he mumbled. Recently he been having this dream were he was fighting these various Drakan, usually the monkey. Every time, right before he finished it off, the Drakan would turn into his friend Richie. She only found out about it after she went to check on him and he woke up screaming. Rachel doubted he would have even told her otherwise. "It's been couple of days since the last one, so I guess that means I'm getting better."

"I still think it would be best if..."

"I told you no shrinks," he cut her off. "Any baggage I got," he tapped his head, "is staying up here."

She felt like giving up, "It's your breakdown."

"Damn right." He got up, she studied him for any sign of pain. She didn't see any. "So, when do we get started and where are we going?"

"We pinpointed his camp's last location in a forest just outside of the city."

"He got a camp? How many are we talking about here?"

"I'm not sure."

"You're not... ," he sputtered. "Am I getting an assault team back up this time?"

"No," she said slowly. The she quickly cut off his outburst, "Only because we don't know if he's still there. Basically we're just scouting his last know location. If he left maybe we could find a clue to where he went."

"And if he is still there it'd be nice if he conveniently went boom."

"That's one way to put it. Only problem is the fastest route to the spot isn't accessible by car."

"Could it be accessible by say a motorcycle?"

She couldn't help but grin, "I'm sure most of it is." That boy and his toy. "Come on, we can leave as soon as we check in with Heather and Mr. Anderson."

Anderson wouldn't let them leave until they went over everything. Jack hung around the door as the finalized the plan. He spent most of the time trying not to bang his head into the wall out of boredom. He didn't see why they were planning the thing. Usually the plan degenerated into him blowing the Drakan up. He had no doubt that was going to be the outcome for this one too. By the time they left World Inc. and reached the forest it was almost dark. Rachel pulled a flashlight and a map out of her glove box before getting on the bike. They rode the path until he couldn't see any where else to go. "Looks like we're walking the rest of the way."

"Great," she sounded unenthusiastic about the idea.

"Your Aunt didn't have any nature trails by her in bayou country?", he said throwing in a Cajun accent.

"No, she lived in the middle of Baton Rouge. And that was the saddest accent I ever heard."

"Everybody's a critic."

"No really, I've been to Louisiana a lot and that was the saddest thing I ever heard. My Aunt would have slapped you silly if she heard you just now."

"Alright already." Jack took the staff from it's holding place between the handle bars as a precaution, "So which way?"

Rachel checked the map. "That way," she pointed the light to the left. "It was pretty sad."

Jack ignored her and let her lead the way. She slowed just enough for him to walk along side her. He guessed they went a mile without seeing anything yet. Jack twirled the staff between his fingers while trying to keep an eye on their surroundings. Suddenly Rachel stopped and turned off the light. "What?"

"Over there," she said softly. He looked ahead of them. There seemed to be some kind of light. "I think we better see if it's them."

"Stay behind me." Jack took the lead and snapped the staff to extend it to the full length. He briefly considered activating the Fusion system. But if it wasn't their target he'd have a hard time explaining what he was wearing. He got close enough to see a fire pit in the middle of a clearing giving off the light. Sitting around the fire was a bunch of kids. The oldest couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen years old. Jack was about to tell Rachel they had the wrong spot but she could see for herself. Then a couple of the kids closest to him started sniffing the air, then the other did the same. "You got to be kidding me," he said a little too loudly because they all turned in his direction.

"Who's there?", demanded the oldest. Jack collapsed the staff, handed it to Rachel and walked into the clearing with his hands open. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," he replied calmly, "just passing through. I didn't mean to disturb you guys."

"He smells funny, "one of the youngest said. Her form seemed to change for a moment before returning to normal.

"It's the Drakan Killer!," a little boy yelled and hid behind the oldest.

"I told you there was no such thing as a Drakan Killer," he chided him. The oldest then looked right at him, "But you have killed our people."

Jack quickly tried to think of a way out of this. "Look, I got some bad intel on this one. I'll just leave and forget I ever saw you guys."

"I can't take that chance." The boy quickly turned into a green wolf. He snarled at Jack and jumped at him. Jack leaped to the side but was able to kick the wolf in the head. The wolf looked stunned for the moment.

Jack raised his left arm across his chest and materialized the belt. He swung his arm over and raised his right arm. "Henshin!", he shouted before slamming his right hand on top of the belt. After it scanned his body he was in the black body suit and blue armor.

The young Drakan either gasped or took a step back. The wolf was stunned, "The story was true."

"Oh my God it is the Drakan Killer."

"I don't want to fight," he told him. The wolf eyes were a mixture of fear and anger. It charged, but again Jack blocked the punch and tossed the youth aside. "I said I didn't want to fight."

The wolf looked at the other kids again. Most of them had dropped their human disguises, but it didn't look like they were going to join in. The wolf looked concerned as he turned his attention back to Jack. "And I said I couldn't take that chance." He got up and went after him again. Jack did everything he could not to hurt the wolf. He dodged or blocked everything the wolf threw at him. Then the wolf tackled him back into he trees. They rolled before Jack flipped him off.

"Watch it." Both of them looked up. Rachel was standing close by, how did he forget about her. The wolf sniffed the air again and growled.

"Don't even think it Fido." Jack ran in and punched the wolf before it could do anything. It stumbled back then swung a fist at him. He ducked it easily and nailed the point of his foot into it's stomach. The wolf doubled over and he brought his knee to it's face. Blood started trickling down it's nose as it tried to retreat. Jack moved faster as he grabbed the wolf by it's shoulders and threw him. The wolf landed hard against a tree. It used that tree to support itself as it got back to his feet. Jack glanced at the meter, it just started flashing. He looked at Rachel and said, "Call it in."

She looked stunned that he said that, "Jack?"

"I said call it in." He pressed the button under the belt and headed for the wolf.

Anderson's concentration was interrupted as Williams' phone started ringing. She picked it up and after a moment said, "What the situation Rachel?" She was quiet for a long time before saying, "No." She started to pale.

"Did something happen to Jack?", Mitchell asked. Anderson interest was peaked as well. If Christopher was there surely they would have called for back up. That's if he gave them a chance.

"We were wrong about the target," she said. "It wasn't the rebel leader, it was a bunch of Drakan children. Rachel said they all looked under eighteen. The oldest started fighting Jack. She said he didn't have any other choice but to kill him."

"Whoa, Jack took out a kid?", Mitchell in disbelief.

"We sent him after...children?" Anderson leaned against the map for support. Children, Drakan children. He had nothing to worry about from the humans, but his own kind however. How did this happen? "Allen?" He was no where to be found. Somebody said he left as soon as the phone rang. He knew, Anderson was sure of it. Allen was never in here during Davidson's assignments. He rushed out the door, almost letting his animal instinct take over. He came to an intersection and sniffed the air. He went down the one with the strongest, freshest sent, "ALLEN!"


	10. Chapter 10

Episode 10 

"Call it in." She did not just hear him say that.

"Jack?"

"I said call it in," he told her. He pressed the button under the belt. Before she could say anything to stop him he started for the wolf. Jack grabbed the wolf by the shoulders and pulled him away from the tree. Then he turned around and kicked the tree. He backed up from the tree hoping on one foot before setting his right down. The tree cracked from the impact and started to fall. Suddenly the part he kicked exploded out. Rachel tried to shield herself as chunks of the tree flew in every direction. When it was clear she saw the wolf and the other young Drakan had done the same. Jack stood there not looking at any of them.

"Why...," the wolf started.

"Get out of here," was all Jack said.

"But I don't understand."

"I said get out of here!", he yelled. "Now, before I change my mind. Git!" Unsure of what else to do the wolf nodded and reverted to his human form. The others did the same and the young wolf led them away. They stood there and watched them go. Finally Jack powered down the Fusion system and flexed his right leg a little.

"Jack...," she began.

"Let's go," he cut her off. They walked back to the bike in total silence. His attention was on the path they were taking. Her attention was mostly on what just happened. Jack wasn't kidding when he said they got some wrong Intel on this one. She was going to make sure heads were going to roll for this one. And Rachel wasn't really caring whose head it meant at the moment. It wasn't long before they reached the bike and Jack drove her back to her car. She put a hand on his shoulder when it looked like he was going to leave.

"Jack," he still wouldn't look at her, "what are we going to tell them?"

"Whatever the hell you want." Underneath the helmet he looked really tired. "I got to draw a line some where." Then he drove off and Rachel watched his taillight disappear. She looked at her cell phone then back into the woods, her decision already made. She had to draw a line too.

Things seemed to fall apart as soon as he heard they had sent Davidson after children. As he expected the Drakan under him were demanding answers. It took everything he had to keep them from revolting. The fact that damnable excuse for a male Allen disappeared right after helped persuade them. Mitchell had every team he had looking for him. Williams' people were monitoring every camera stationed in the city trying to find a glimpse of him. Allen knew their set up just as well as he did, so he could avoid them for as long as he possibly could. But it would only be a matter of time before he had his hands around his throat, slowly choking the life out of him.

Then there was the other half of the problem to deal with. Haily had been seen sporadically in the building. Apparently doing her best to avoid him. The one time he was able to corner her he asked about Davidson. He apparently decided to lock himself in his apartment. Ignoring any attempts of contact by either Haily or Williams. What was going through his mind? Anderson wasn't sure what he felt toward him. He killed a child, but they rebuilt him to be a weapon. He would sort all this out after he had dealt with Allen.

But there was one hope he was clinging to. The smell on Haily wasn't any different. Usually the smell of death on her was a little stronger each time Davidson killed a rebel. She smelled the same as the last time he saw her. He knew it was entirely possible he was all in his head. A small seed of hope that Davidson hadn't done it. That discovery was the only thing that kept him from ripping into her for not stopping Davidson if he did.

If he needed any more proof the fates were conspiring against him, he got it the moment he turned the corner to his office. He knew the balding grey haired man standing next to his secretary's desk. Rodgers, the alpha of another pack. A powerful and influential one, this could not be even remotely good. Surprisingly the idea that he was here didn't worry him at the moment. The fact that he was here in his territory, in his city, in his building, unannounced and uninvited. It was the height of rudeness and that irked him.

At least it was distracting him from his current problem.

Anderson locked down everything he was feeling as he approached. Rodgers looked very open as he came closer. A trap he would not fall for like others have. "Thomas," he said while holding out a hand.

"Matthew," the other took it. "I apologize for the suddenness of all of this. But I have been hearing some rather disturbing rumors lately. I wanted to discuss them with you."

"Of course," Anderson gestured toward the door. "Let's go in my office and discuss this." If things got rough he could always call for Mitchell if he had too. Rodgers took a seat in front of his desk. He was half way expecting him to take his. Sitting down he asked, "Can I offer you a drink?"

"No thanks, hopefully we can clear this up rather quickly. There have been rumors of a Drakan serial killer in you city."

"Yes, I've heard them myself." Right to the point, he was afraid of that. About that time something hit him, Rodgers was a wolf. Haily's report said Davidson killed a green wolf cub. A cold knot formed in his stomach as he felt himself pale. "Probably concocted by the rebels. Anything to draw attention to my city. You know how they operate." He said anything to try to prolong this as he slid his hand closer to the call button under his desk.

"The last one concerned my son." His hand stopped momentarily.

Anderson hoped he sounded concerned as he asked, "Is he all right?"

"I'm not sure," Rodgers said as he shifted in his seat. He looked for any sign of attack. "He was rather incoherent the last time I talked to him."

"What do you mean?" He had heard stories of the seers being able to contact the dead. He never but any stock in it, he barely bought their ability to see your future. He would have never thought Rodgers put any stock in it.

"He told me he was guarding the pack of youths he was with against a Drakan insect. One made of metal if I understood him correctly. Then this Drakan somehow destroyed a tree and let them go."

"Let them go? He's alive?" Anderson felt a great weight lift off his shoulders. Davidson had more character than he was given him credit for. He covered for his outburst, "That's different from the stories I heard about the Drakan Killer."

"I know."

"So where is your son now?"

"I do not know. He wasn't sure if that thing was going to come after him again. He said he was going to seek out the rebels for immediate protection for some reason and to see if they could get him and the others out of the city without being noticed."

"So he's potentially still in my city? Don't worry, I'll put every connection I have to work on finding him and the source of this rumor. Like I said this sounds like something the rebels would come up with. Maybe as some sort of sick way to draw people to the cause."

"Possibly. If I didn't already lose a man in this city I would wonder less."

"This man," he said slowly, "wouldn't happen to have been a frog?"

"A junior VP of mine. So he did die here."

"A rumor my people heard. There was no frog in my territory so I had inquires sent out to other cities to see if they lost anybody recently."

"I didn't hear of any inquires. Although I don't see why you didn't ask your own VP about it. Allen, I believe that was his name." Anderson arched an eyebrow. "I sent my man here to finalize the details of the deal between our two companies with him."

For reason he didn't yet understand pieces of the puzzle were suddenly falling into place, "Really?"

Jack stared out the window. The over cast day didn't come close to matching his mood. He barely heard hard the knock at his door. He was a bit surprised, usually she would ring the doorbell a few times then quit. He just kept on ignoring it. "Come on Jack, open up," Rachel voice was muffled. "We got to talk about this."

"What's there to talk about?", he said mainly to himself. He let out a breath, might as well get this over with. Jack went over to open just enough so she could push it open. He went back to the window.

"Finally," he heard her mumble as she came in. She closed the door and sat on the edge of his couch. "How are you feeling?"

"You sent me after a bunch of kids. How am I supposed to feel?"

"I didn't know they were kids either. I was just as shocked as you were."

"Right."

"Look Jack...," he cut her off.

"I don't know if I can do this any more. If this is the price I have to pay, I can't do this. The monkey isn't worth it"

"I'm not going to talk you out of it," she told him. "I've considered quitting myself. Not before I got some answers on how this happened first. I'm still looking into it in case you're wondering."

"What did Anderson say when he found out I let them go?"

"I... didn't tell them you let them go."

Jack looked at her in surprise. He didn't think she would have done that. "So they think I went through with it?" She nodded. "That's gonna be hell to live with."

"They stopped looking for them at any rate. That was the idea when you told me to call it in."

"Yeah. Guess something good came out of this whole situation." He was quiet for a moment. "I had to be able to live with myself."

"I know. What do you want to do now?" Jack thought about it for a few moments. Then he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. He should have done this the moment he out what the target really was. "Where are you going?"

"First, I'm going to find out exactly what the hell happened, then I'm giving your boss a piece of my mind." She followed him out the door. "Trying to stop me?"

"I have a few things I want to say myself."

"You were there all that time and you haven't said anything yet?"

"You inspired me."

For the first time since the incident he felt a smile start to form. "More like you want to see how I get answers."

"That too."

"We found him in alley of all places," Mitchell told him. A few moments prior he and his team dragged Allen into his office. Mitchell and his team apparently took a few liberties in apprehending him. Allen was sporting a black eye among other visual injuries. Not that he was disapproving of the treatment. "He was a little feisty when we caught up with him. But we calmed him down a bit before we brought him in."

"Apparently. Now if you will excuse us Mitchell we have something to discuss."

"One more thing," Mitchell leaned in close. "We're positive Jack is on his way here." Anderson nodded slowly and looked at Allen. The man would not look in his direction.

"How soon?"

"Five, ten minutes tops."

"When he arrives make sure nobody stops him on his way up here."

Mitchell glanced over to Allen and grinned, "Understood."

Anderson closed the door and silently went over to his desk. He sat in his chair, steepled his fingers and just stared at Allen. Like the worm he was he started to squirming under his gaze. There was nothing worse than a Drakan with no backbone. Neither said anything until Allen sputtered, "M... M... Mr. Anderson."

"Be quiet," Anderson snapped. Allen sunk back into his chair. "For the past few days I wondered how you could make such a blunder. Or should I say tried to make it look like a blunder. Especially when I warned you after your last major mistake."

"I… I didn't know they were children."

"Yes you did." Anderson got up and slowly circled the room. "Why else would you have disappeared all of the sudden. But for the life of me I couldn't figure out why. Why did you have us send Davidson after children? Even if they were the offspring of the rebels we could have convinced them to come back into the fold."

"I'm sorry."

Anderson ignored him. "I could not figure it out. Then I had the most interesting visit from Thomas Rodgers." Allen stiffened noticeably, he smiled behind his back. "Apparently his son was among the children we sent Davidson after. In fact he was the one Davidson fought," he waited a couple of moments before adding, "to the death." No kind of reaction from Allen what so ever. Good, that made this just that much easier. "But it wasn't until he gave me an answer to another mystery that things started to come together. One you could not seem to solve, the mysterious frog."

"H… He did, "Allen looked like he was starting to sweat.

"Imagine my surprise when he told me there was a pending deal between our two companies. He was rather taken aback that I knew nothing about it. A merger between our two companies I would have never agreed to. Between us we couldn't figure out how you were planning to pull this off. Then I started looking through some of your personal business files." Allen looked right at him, not sure to be shocked or angry. "Don't look so surprised. I told you I was going to do as much when the humans heard the ceremony.

"And I was rather surprised myself at what I saw. I was expecting to see personal ventures, plans to carve out you own little empire, using funds skimmed from my company. I think I could have almost forgiven that. But what did I see instead? Everything you needed to take over a company. My company."

"I can explain."

"Then the deal with the children became rather clear. The other packs are already paying too much attention to my city because of the rebels. And I will admit the rumors of the Drakan Killer is not helping the situation. But if something happened to the son of a major alpha, then I would be put under a microscope. Eventually the Fusion project would have been discovered. More than likely leaked to the right people. I would have been removed and you would have been in position to buy the company right from under me. And you would have waited until I was removed too. You didn't have the nerve to do it while I am still in control. If you wanted the company so badly you should have challenged me for it, like I did your father. As you should have challenged him in the beginning."

"He wouldn't hear of it," he said through gritted teeth.

"Because he knew you were a sniveling coward. The very fact you planned all of this proved it. He knew it would not have been honorable combat, like tradition demanded."

"You don't know that!", Allen shot out of his chair. "Neither of you knew that."

"Then prove me wrong." Anderson dropped his human form and became the green cheetah. "If you want control of this company so bad than fight me now." Allen glanced at the door. "Mitchell has his orders not to enter the room, no matter what."

"Fine," Allen clenched his fist and reverted into a green shark. He fingered the scars on his chest, a low growl coming from somewhere deep inside him. Allen screamed at the revealing two sets of very sharp teeth. Anderson grinned, showing he had a dangerous bite as well and extended his claws. The circled each other, taking a swipe every so often to test the other defenses. But Anderson was biding his time. Waiting for the smell that was just now assaulting his nostrils. The smell of death, and it was getting closer. Allen was too caught up to notice. Anderson suddenly jumped to his left, making sure to hit the wall hard enough to leave a dent. He returned to his human form and slumped to the ground.

Allen turned his head obviously confused. Anderson put the appropriate amount of fear on his face as the door burst open. Davidson stood there suddenly dumbfounded at the sight, "Holy... !"

"That's Allen!", Anderson shouted. Allen confusion turned into rage as he looked at him. For a brief moment he thought Allen would actually do him harm in retaliation. He bolted for the door and knock Davidson out of the way. He held his shoulder as he got up and staggered toward the door. "Allen's one of them. He's the one that gave me the false information about the rebel leader." He guessed right about the effect that would have on Davidson. There was a brief glint of anger as he got up and put his left arm across his chest. Anderson saw the belt materialized around his waist. He moved his arm across and raised his right.

"Henshin!", he shouted and brought his right hand down on top of the belt. Davidson ran after Allen as the Fusion system activated. Haily took a step after him but stopped. Before she turned to check on him he allowed himself a small smile. Like that man deserved honorable combat.

Jack chased after Allen as a red tint took over his vision. The shark was fast but he was quickly gaining on him. It wasn't long before he could grab the fin swinging in front of him. Allen turned to look back just as he reared a fist back. The punch knocked Allen down but Jack ended up falling over him. He beat the shark to his feet and kicked him under the chin. Allen's head snapped back and he aimed another fist at it's throat. The shark laid there on the floor holding his throat trying to breath. Jack stood over him and said, "You I'm not even going to think twice about."

He reached down to pull Allen to his feet. The shark stopped gasping and shoved his fingers into his gut, right under the spot the blue chest armor didn't cover. Jack doubled over in pain as he saw stars. He tried to keep from throwing up in his helmet as the shark grabbed him by the back of his neck. "Annoying little gnat," then he slammed Jack face first through the wall. He threw his left elbow widely catching Allen in the shoulder. Allen let go and Jack kicked out his left foot. Allen stumbled back from the impact and he removed his head from the wall. He turned around to see Allen mouth come at him. Jack ducked the lunge and planted both his fist into the shark's stomach. He grabbed it by the back of it's head and slammed him repeatedly into the wall.

Jack took a few steps back and held his gut. He wasn't sure but it felt like he busted something. The shark recovered faster than he thought and lunge again. Jack had just enough time to get his right arm up. Allen's mouth clamped down on his forearm. He almost went down to his knees as the pressure increased, something was going to give. Then Allen spun to his right. There was a loud crack right before the momentum flipped him over as well. Jack screamed in pain and clutched at his right arm. Keeping his grip on the arm Allen got to his feet. Out of desperation he started punching wildly with his left hand. He nailed the shark in the nose before it let go. Jack held his arm close to his body, Allen grinned evilly and came in for the kill.

Jack saw the grin and yelled again. Not in pain, but from frustration. He launched a side kick when the shark came close enough. His right foot crashed through the two rows of the sharks front teeth. Allen grabbed his mouth and tried to get away again. Jack leaned against a wall, remembered the wolf and went after him. He grabbed a metal trash bin and when he was close enough swung it with all he could muster. The can bent into the shape of Allen's head from the impact. It went down and he started stomping at it and pounding it with his left hand. Allen pushed him back the moment the meter started flashing. Not soon enough. He pressed the button to activate the mini turbines in the belt. Allen grabbed the can and threw it at him. Jack jumped to the wall and kicked off with his left foot. His right foot made contact with the side of it's head. Allen bounced off the other wall and exploded.

Rachel raced down the hall after Mitchell showed up to keep an eye on Anderson. She caught the last part of the fight. Anderson and Mitchell showed up when Allen exploded. The sprinkler system went off as Jack cradled his right arm, fell to his knees and put his head to the ground. "Jack!", she ran toward him. She knelt beside him, his every breath was mixed with a small shout of pain. "Tell me what's wrong."

"My... ," he barely got out, " my.. arm... can't... feel... he broke... my arm."

"Jack let me see." He wouldn't move it, he didn't have to. His arm was bending in places that it shouldn't be bending. Under the body suit it looked like a bone was sticking out. "Oh my God," she muttered in French. "Jack listen to me, don't power down. Do you hear me don't power down." She wasn't sure how bad he was bleeding under the suit, it could be the only thing from keeping it from bleeding worse. "Get Friedman and Barry up here," she ordered Mitchell.

"How bad...," he didn't get a chance to finish.

"Get them up here now!", she shouted at him. "Don't worry Jack, you're going to be alright."

"I'll make sure he gets the finest care we can provide," Mr. Anderson said while looking very concerned. "After all, I owe him my life."


	11. Chapter 11

Episode 11

Jack slowly started to wake up. He noticed one thing right away, he wasn't in his own bed. Propping himself up on his elbows he looked at his surroundings. An off white room hospital room, a way too familiar looking room. Looking at himself he saw he was wearing a grey T-shirt. Now he knew were he was, the World Inc. medical section. Moaning he lay back down and put his hands on his face. "Didn't I do this once already?", he grumbled.

He then removed his hands and stared at his right arm. Suddenly he remembered what happened. Allen was a Drakan and he fought him. Allen had latched on to his forearm trying to crush it before spinning in place. Jack's fist clenched at the memory of the pain that became his right arm. Sitting up he raised a sleeve to get a better look. All of the old scars were there, but there were some new ones. This time they even covered the back of his right hand. "What did they do to me now?"

"Jack?", a male voice said. He looked up to see Rachel and Freidman standing in the doorway. "You're ahead of schedule," the doctor looked pleased as he told him that.

"Never was any good at staying on a schedule." Slowly he got off the bed. Things weren't as bad as the first time he woke up in the building. Looking at Rachel he asked, "How long was I under this time?"

"Month and a half," she informed him.

"That long for an arm? No wonder it took you guys six month the first time."

"Actually you arm would have only took a couple of weeks."

"Why so long then?" he said while trying to get the light Freidman was holding out of his eyes. "Do you mind?"

"Just doing my job." Freidman put the light away and put a blood pressure cuff around his arm.

"It was decided it was time to upgrade your systems slightly," Rachel told him.

"Did my pressure just go up?"

Freidman looked mildly surprised, "I think it did." Rachel just rolled her eyes.

"So what kind of upgrade did they do?"

"Let's worry about that later", Rachel told him. "Is he ready to leave Dr. Freidman?"

"I have to check a couple of thing first but he should be good to go."

"Fine, I'll back in a few minutes."

When they were alone Jack held up his arm and asked, "What did I overload this time?"

"Actually this time wasn't your fault," he answered. "It was a flaw in your particular design."

"Remember, if you're gonna explain it no cooking analogies. I haven't looked at a steak the same way after the last time."

Freidman smiled, "I'll try. You have to remember your left arm and legs had to be totally reconstructed. The rest of you, basically, had to be augmented to keep up. If Allen tried that with your left arm it would have still been damaged but it wouldn't have been as bad. But since your right arm was closer to your original state of being the stress shattered the bone. I didn't think anybody considered you ever be in a situation like this."

"So my right had to be reconstructed too."

"Not to the same extent, but yeah." Great he was more of a freak now than he was before.

Rachel waited a half hour before going back. Jack had already changed into the black T-shirt and blue jeans she brought from his apartment. He was staring at his right hand, not really paying attention to anything else. She cleared her throat to get his attention. "Hi there."

"Hey," he answered back. He gave her a small smile, "Let me guess, they got a job for me already."

"You can still joke, I'm guessing that's a good thing. Here," she handed him the jean jacket with a sweatshirt hood built in she was carrying. "They had to cut the old one off of you so I got you one just like it."

"Thanks. How much do I...?" She waved it off. After he put it on she handed him a small bag. "What's in this one?"

"Motorcycle gloves. I figured if you using the jacket to hide the scars on your arm you want to do the same with your hand."

"It might be time for me to move on. You're getting to know me too well."

"You're not that deep or complex Jack."

Jack actually made a hurt sound and put a hand of his chest. "I am hurt, I am shocked, I've been pegged."

"Come on, I'll treat you to some breakfast. Then Mr. Anderson said he wants to see you as soon as possible. He wants to thank you personally for saving his life."

"Huh," he muttered while looking deep in thought. "The head of a major corporation is in my debt. If I was my Uncle I could use this."

"Jack," She said in a tone to cut that thought off right then.

"I said if I was my Uncle."

"Your Uncle influenced you a little too much for my taste." With that she walked out of the room. Before he followed she heard him say.

"My Mom told me the same thing, what are the odds?"

Anderson was talking to Armstrong and one of his assistants when Haily and Davidson entered R&D. Several of the scientist looked in there direction and went back to what they were doing. A few, he noticed, were giving him a disdainful look. Word of Davidson apparent killing of the Drakan teenager traveled fast. He knew better of course, if they weren't going to tell what really happened than why should he? It would be interesting to see how soon before the situation reached the boiling point. At least it would be a diversion if nothing else.

Excusing himself from Armstrong for the moment he went over to them. "Mr. Davidson, it's good to see you up and about. I'm assuming everything is in working order."

"Nothing important fallen off."

He smiled, "Excellent. Mrs. Haily has been keeping me up to date on your condition ever since you were readmitted to the medical ward. She's been at your side every day."

Davidson turned and opened his mouth but didn't say anything right away, "Nah, way too easy."

"What?", Haily looked at him. "You actually decided not to say anything smart."

"I'm saving it for next time."

"I knew it was too good to last."

Anderson sighed then he remembered he wasn't alone. "Excuse me I'm forgetting my manners. Mr. Davidson I like to introduce you to my new vice president. Walter Taylor," a red haired man stepped foreword, "This is Jack Davidson."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Davidson. I heard a lot about you." He held out a hand that Davidson stared at with his arms crossed. "Is there something wrong?"

"Just wondering what you'll turn into."

"Yes," Anderson said, "that was an unfortunate incident. Took us all by surprise."

Davidson gave him an all too familiar look, "You knew the janitor was a Drakan but not your own V.P.?"

"Like I told you before we have identified very few Drakan in the city. This species have been disguising themselves as human for a very long time. I sure Allen did everything possible to hide his true nature. Although it does explain his hostility toward you."

"I told you animals don't like me," he said to Haily. He noticed Taylor stiffen slightly. Davidson then held out a hand to Taylor who quickly took it. "I don't know what you heard but I'm telling you right now... ," he gave him a sly grin, "it's all true."

Taylor returned the grin, "Then it should be interesting working with you then."

"So what this I hear about an upgrade?", Davidson said turning his attention to him.

"Part of my debt to you for saving my life. Seeing a Drakan up close and personal and seeing what happened to you made me think that we under powered you for your assignments. I thought it was best to rectify that." He gestured toward Armstrong, "Since we're already here, Dr. Armstrong would you care to update Mr. Davidson about what he can expect?"

"Of course." Armstrong came forward, "Jack, all I can say is sorry we didn't foresee what happened.

"Even my Uncle couldn't think of everything."

"And what did your Uncle do?", "Anderson asked. Any information that could help keep Davidson under his thumb was very much appreciated.

"Lock smith," he answered quickly. "Help with his night job."

"You don't want to know," Haily answered before the question was asked.

"Well then, let's get started," Armstrong lead then to the table he was at. "Well the most obvious thing you're going to notice is you're going to be stronger and slightly faster when you power up the Fusion system. We also made a slight cosmetic change to your armor." He motioned to a jar filled with a blueish liquid on the table. The armor's belt was floating on the inside. Davidson started rubbing his waist. "We replaced it with a updated model. We have a spare here to show you the difference" He picked it up. It looked the same to him, the grey metal belt and the red face gleamed in the light, but then again he didn't have to worry about wearing it. "We've gotten rid of the button that activates the charge kick. You have to twist this part of the pod on your right side down, like this. This also gave us the option to add another weapon."

"Uh-oh" Davidson muttered.

"We felt it would give you a little more diversity in the field. When you twist the pod up you can do...,"

Davidson lowered his head. With his hearing Anderson heard him whispered, "Don't say punch."

"Well I guess you could call it the charge punch." Davidson smacked his hand against his forehead. "Is something the matter Jack?"

"Quick question Barry, was this Tim's idea?"

"Who else would it have been?", Tim answered.

"Tim, seriously, you need a life." The people around him got a good chuckle. Tim got red-faced and went to do something else.

"I think that pretty much cover it. Do you think you feel up to testing your new weapon?" Davidson looked at his fist.

"Might as well."

"Good, Miss Haily can show you where we test our weapon systems."

They sat in Mr. Anderson office watching the footage of the testing session. Jack armored form was punching and kicking various targets around him. She still didn't see how they got dragonfly out of his look. But the readout showed he was stronger, maybe four or five times stronger than a normal human. His image stopped and looked at something off screen, "Meter's flashing."

"Ok," she heard herself say, "send in the target." A side of beef dropped from the ceiling.

"What the...?" Jack looked up and back off screen. "Can I get an order of ribs out of there after this is over?"

"Just hit the slab of meat."

"Guess this is tonight's dinner special." He reached down and twisted the pod up. He waited a moment, reared back his right hand and pounded it into the slab. It bent almost in half from the impact. After a few moments the slab exploded out covering everything in the immediate area. Jack picked a piece of meat off his chest armor. "Where do I go for a hose down?"

Anderson stopped the tape there, "Interesting."

"You weren't the one covered in meat," Jack told him. "Think I found something worse than smelling like Drakan blood." Anderson chuckled at that then looked at her.

"The upgrades performed better than expected," Rachel said. "Unfortunately we weren't able to test how fast he could run. Even before the upgrades Jack had a tendency to burn out the treadmills before he reached top speed."

"I know, we're still waiting for the new one. So Mr. Davidson how does it feel to have the new option they gave you?"

"Well I've been kicking these things so long it's gonna take awhile to wrap my head around this."

"I'm sure you'll get used to it." Anderson leaned on the desk and steepled his fingers. "When do you think you'll be up for another mission?"

"Not right away," she answered for him. "I mean he just woke up and he has to absorb a few things."

"Why does this sound familiar," Jack said to nobody in particular.

"I guess you're right. We can do without you for a few days. I talk to the two of you later then." They left the office and walked toward the elevator.

"Want some lunch?", Jack asked.

"You're buying," she told him.

"Ok we're going cheap then. Any idea what they're serving today?"

"Charge punch beef," she said after a beat.

That few days turned into exactly two as he got a call from Heather about a sighting. That afternoon he and Rachel were on a college campus. Jack wondered how Anderson got World Inc.'s camera in there. Not that he figured he would ever find out. "So did this one get in on the Drakan college fund?"

"Every one has the right to learn. Wait let me guess your Uncle was down on college right?"

"No he was all for it."

"Surprising."

"You're telling me."

"Haven't seen the two of you before," said an old man they passed sitting at a chess table. "Never would have thought I'd be unfortunate enough to smell the sent of Drakan blood again either."

"Crap," Jack said as he surveyed the area. A whole lot of people were hanging around. Should he change right now?

"Please relax," the old man got up and stood before them, "I have no intention of fighting you, here or ever. According to rumor you took out Molly. If that is true than I know I have no chance."

"Molly? Red head, turns into a rabbit? Really hot human form?" Rachel elbowed him in the side. "What?"

"Stick to business Jack."

He sighed heavily, "That was her, really a lovely person when you got to know her." The old man looked at him, "So you're the Drakan Killer. The stories made you seem taller."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"No, actually I was expecting you to be a little shorter. I've been around long enough to know how these things work."

"So Mr...?", Jack looked for a name.

"Call me Max."

"Max, so what are you doing here?"

"Right now I'm waiting for a chess opponent, but I teach philosophy here. Not much I could do after I left World Inc."

"Did you know that?", he asked Rachel.

"It wasn't in the report I read," she told him. "But after what happened with Allen can you blame them."

"Bradley Allen?", Max asked, a little surprised

"Yeah, turns out he was a Drakan too and attacked Anderson. I had to take him out." Max looked thoughtful.

"I'm surprised it took so long."

"So your with the rebels now?", Rachel asked.

"Oh no," he laughed. "I was too high up in the World Inc. command chain to be fully trusted. Although both sides keep track of me every so often. I'm kind of surprised they sent you to check on me."

"I guess everything ok then, so see ya." Max nodded as he walked off, relived something didn't go to hell for once. They reached the vehicles and he grabbed the helmet off the handle bars. He didn't want to tell Max he wasn't that surprised he was sent to "check" on him.

"Wasn't expecting things to go like that," Rachel told him.

"I'm cool with it."

"What do you think Mr. Anderson and Mitchell are going to think about all of this?"

"Not really caring right now. Every mission you guys send me on, no matter how you word it, in fact my life lately boils down to three things. Find 'em, fight 'em and blow 'em up. If Max back there wants to skip the last two I'm not going to argue."

"I'm not forcing you to. You're supposed to go after the violent ones and he's definitely not violent."

"So let's leave the old guy alone." For now he told himself. Jack had a feeling Max had answers he wanted.

Anderson and Taylor listened to Haily's report. To him this wasn't even close to acceptable. Maxwell was a loose end he wanted eliminated. Obviously he under estimated the man ability to withstand the sent of Drakan blood. Well he had other options at his disposal. "You two made the right decision. I hope you understand why I didn't say that he used to work with me."

"Of course, you didn't want us going in thinking it was going to be Allen all over again."

"Quite right. I expect to see a written report on my desk in the morning." She nodded and left the room. "Where's Davidson?"

"He left about a half hour ago," Taylor told him. "He's on his way back to the Campus from the look of things. Mitchell already has a man on the way."

"Good, maybe the job well get done this time."

The campus looked a lot quieter as he pulled up. Jack walked between the buildings until he found Max again. Surprisingly he was still sitting at the same chess table as earlier. He sat across from him. "I knew you be back before you even left," he said out of the blue. Max looked up and smiled, "Don't be so surprised, I'm pretty good at reading people. So what do you want to know?" Jack picked up a pawn and just looked at it. "Oh, do you play... Jack was it?"

"Never learned it," he put the piece down.

Max looked disappointed, "Pity. It's a good way to take your mind off things. But you don't want that do you?"

"Why did you leave World Inc."

"I disagreed with some of their policies on certain things."

"Did that include the rebels?"

"Rebels in some circles, patriots in others," he said, "but that was on top of the list. What about you son? You think you have reason for leaving too?"

"Let's say I've noticed some things not exactly adding up since I've been there."

"You tell these things to that lady you were with?"

"Look I'll admit she's the closest thing I have to a friend in this mess right now. But I don't know if I can tell her this stuff yet."

"That's not the impression I got from seeing the two of you together, but it's your choice. Although she looked a lot more trustworthy than some of the people I knew when I worked there. But if you think I can be help, what's the most recent thing that didn't add up? I'm assuming the incident with Allen?"

"You mean outside of him being a Drakan and nobody knowing it? But there was one thing I noticed, when I was going to Anderson's office there was nobody in the hallways. There is always somebody in those hallways. Even when I was staying there you could hear people in that building. Guards walking the hall, cleaning crews doing their jobs, people in the next room getting some after work nookie."

"Really?", Max laughed.

"The walls in the medical section are paper thin."

"Was there any other time you noticed that?"

"Kinda. When I first woke up in World Inc. and Rachel took me to the cafeteria every hallway had a guard but one. And in that one a janitor turned into a red bull and went nuts. It seemed strange at the time but Anderson explained it away so I didn't think twice about it. Probably should have."

"Is there anything else?"

"Yeah I overheard some of the assault team talking once." The other man suddenly gave out a small cry of pain. "Max?" He pulled something out of his neck as his eyes went bloodshot. Jack got out of the way as he pushed the table over and changed into a green bear. He roared at the sky and looked at him. Jack put up his hands, "Max calm down." He jumped back as a set of claws came at him. Jack raised his left arm across his chest and the belt materialized round his waist. He swung his left arm to the side and brought his right arm to his face. He paused monetarily before saying, "Henshin!", and slammed his right hand on top of the belt. As he lowered his arms the belt scanned his body and in moments he was wearing the black body suit and blue insect like armor of the Fusion system. "Max don't make me do this," he pleaded. Max swung at him and Jack caught it trying to force him to the ground.

Max growled and in a burst of strength knocked him away. He picked up and threw a table that Jack had to roll away to roll away from to avoid. He didn't want to hurt Max but he wasn't getting much of a choice at the moment. Max Growled again and swung at his head as he came in. Jack ducked and punched him in the gut. He bent over from the impact. Jack tried to beat him down. Maybe if he knocked him out whatever happened to him would wear off. Too bad Max wasn't cooperating. Another fit of rage had Jack backing up. His backed into one of the chess tables. He reached back to grab the sides, picked up both of his legs and forced both of them into Max's chest. He stumbled back but didn't fall. Jack ran in and tackled him to the ground. It was taking all of his strength to keep the Max down. "Max listen to me! It's Jack! You got to fight it!" His eyes seem to clear momentarily.

"Jack?" Rage quickly returned to his eyes and he pushed him off. Max started pounding on him harder then ever before. Jack fought back doing all he could to survive. An uppercut snapped Max's head back. A side kick to the stomach bent him over again. Max recovered faster than he thought he would. He grabbed Jack by the neck and forced him to his knees. "Max!", he choked out. The Drakan roared and tossed him over another row of chess tables. As he got to his feet and faced Max again the meter started flashing. Out of instinct he went for the button under the belt. The fact it wasn't there brought him back to reality. Max stayed were he was at breathing heavily. He couldn't do it.

They both looked at each other. Max eyes cleared again and in that moment those same eyes pleaded with him. Jack slowly nodded , put his hand on the pod and twisted it down. The twin mini turbines behind the belt's face plate started spinning and a charge quickly built up and ran down his right leg. Jack knelt down and jumped over the tables. He extended his right leg at Max who left himself exposed to what was happening. His right foot came into contact with the Drakan's chest. Max flew back and hit the ground before exploding. Jack fell to his knees watching his remains burn.

"So it's done?", Anderson asked.

"Yes sir," Mitchell said. "My man saw the kill himself. But there is one small problem."

He felt the rage start to build, "What small problem?"

"Neither the clean up team or my man can find the dart. They're searching the area looking for it. Don't worry we'll find it in no time."

"They better find it. The last thing I need is for somebody else to find it." He looked out the window behind his desk. "Or find a way to attached it to us."

Jack sat on his couch looking at the dart setting on his coffee table. He found it lying on the ground close to where Max was sitting. He didn't see Max get hit with it but he pulled something out of his neck before he went crazy. And this was the only thing around that could do it. "Max," he said out loud, "I don't know why but somebody wanted this to happen to you. I promise you that if it's the last thing I do I will find out why and make them pay."


	12. Chapter 12

Episode 12

"I don't like this," Jason said. The old man just ignored him and sat there. The whole situation stank to high heaven as far as he was concerned. First they were in the middle of an open cafe. Anderson's men could be any where at the moment, they needed more cover to meet there contact. Then there was the matter of the contact. "I still say you should have let me make sure he was still with the cause first."

"I have no reason to doubt him," the old man said between sips of his coffee.

"It's the first time we heard from him in months," he pointed out. "Why now all of the sudden?"

"Ask him yourself." The person they were waiting for walked up and sat in an empty chair at the table. He nodded at both of them and tried to not look suspicious as he looked around the area. "It was good to hear from you again," the old man started. "I was starting to wonder if you were still alive."

"I had to be careful. Anderson put the entire operation into overdrive ever since Jack's system went active."

"So that's the insect's name," Jason said. Their contact nodded. "Do you still have the information you were supposed to give Kendall about that thing?"

"The information is locked up and they keep me under 'need to know' when it comes to his systems. I was going to tell him what little I knew before Anderson locked up the building."

"And that's when Kendall meet up with this Jack?", the old man wondered out loud.

"From what I understand they spotted him a few blocks from the building. And after it got locked down I couldn't get out without being questioned."

"So why now?"

"It was the first chance I thought I had and still be safe. They have cameras all over this city. It's a safe bet more than one saw me enter this place."

"This is a trap," Jason started to get up. The old man put a hand on his shoulder to keep him down.

"Believe me, if I thought they knew what the two of you looked like as humans I wouldn't be here."

"I'm assuming you know more about his systems by now", the old man inquired.

"I written down what I know on this." he pulled a notebook out of his briefcase and handed it to them. "I went into as much detail as I could, but you know more about this technology than I do."

"True," the old man put a hand into a pocket and pulled out a bottle filled with a neon green liquid. "Our people think this should disrupt the systems based on that technology. You're the only one who can get close enough to give it to him."

"If we're lucky" Jason added, "it'll be fatal." Their contact looked a little distraught. Jason raised an eyebrow in suspicion, "You don't approve?"

"I know he's the enemy, but I gotten to know Jack. I don't think he deserves this."

"Tell that to Max."

"Jason," the old man warned.

"No, I heard about this. Jack left him alone."

"He went back and took care of him." He nodded his head toward the old man, "He saw it all."

"Is this true?"

"From what I saw, yes." Then he quickly added, "But Max didn't seem himself. He was more animal than man. I've never seen him like that."

Their contact was quiet for a few moments, just staring at the bottle. "I'm going to have to think about this."

"Don't take too long. But I'm telling you this has to be done." Their contact just nodded and silently left the table. Jason stared at the old man in disbelief. "He needed all the facts."

"Facts get in the way of the job."

He stood in the center of a quiet part of the park. It looked about the same as the last time he saw it. Of course that was before the Drakan he and Rachel were watching turned into an ox and started trashing the place. It was the reason why he was back here. That Drakans personality change was as sudden as Max's was. Although he had no clue what possessed to think him that he would find another dart. It's been a couple of months since that happened. If there was a dart it was gone long before now. But he had to do something to try to but the pieces together.

"Think it out Davidson," he told himself. He sat on the bench where the Drakan was and looked around. Where did that shot come from? He was in a pretty open area so it could have come from anywhere. But could somebody sneak a gun into the park and fire it without being seen. No, the best option was those buildings across the street, right behind the parking lot where they were. That thing could have gone right over their heads and they didn't even hear it. But he still didn't know who or why. Well actually he had an idea why, it's just the who part that he wasn't seeing. He sighed, there were way too many pieces to this puzzle that didn't fit. Man, he really needed help putting this thing together. "Richie where's that nerd brain of your when I really need it?"

"Jack." He looked up for a moment before he recognized the voice as Rachel's, "I've been looking for you."

"How did you know I'd be here?"

"I... uh...," she looked back at the parking lot, "saw the motorcycle. Thought I'd take a chance to see if it was you."

"Hmm," he tried to look thoughtful. "So you're driving around town looking for me and you only stopped because you thought the bike might be mine." He made a couple of tsk sounds. "Sounds like you have me on the brain. I'm sorry but that's incurable."

"Get over yourself."

He looked insulted, "No." Then he broke out in a grin, "So what's up?"

"Nothing important," she sat on the bench next to him. "I just want to make sure everything is alright. You've been kinda scarce ever since your upgrade."

"Just trying to readjust," he replied while flexing the fingers on his right hand. "But I think my imagination is playing tricks on me though."

"What do you mean?"

"Just some stupid stuff I'm blaming Richie for putting in my head. In those old school riders tapes he used to show me the hero was part machine too. They were super strong in and out of the suit."

"Do you think you're stronger when the system's powered down?"

"Like I said, it's probably in my head."

"I could have them run some test to find out for sure." He was afraid she was going to say that. "Only problem is there's nothing to show how strong you were before the upgrades."

"Look don't worry about it," he told her." I'm sorry brought it up."

"Ok, but I'm still going to talk to R&D to see if this is even possible." Jack just shrugged his shoulders. Right now he had other things on his mind. "So why are you out here? Outside of the garage I never thought you be hanging around you old battle sites unless you had too."

"I'm just... trying to wrap my head around something."

"Need some help? I'm pretty good at figuring stuff out."

"Maybe next time."

"If you want to strain something go right ahead," she said as she got up. "Don't be a stranger though alright, you know were I am if you need to talk about anything."

"I know." He watched her walk off. Jack wanted to tell everything he knew. But that "uh" she uttered put his shields up. He'd been feed too many lines after hearing that sound to know better. Still, she was his closest friend at the moment," Rachel."

She stopped, "Yeah?"

"Did it ever bother you that Drakan we were watching just went nuts?"

"A little bit," she admitted. "Maybe he had some kind of mental problem or something. It's not like somebody made it go crazy right?"

Jack thought about that dart back at his place, "Right."

"That's an interesting possibility," Barry said. Rachel had just told him what Jack told her about his strength earlier. "To be honest with you I never really thought about it."

There were a lot of things nobody thought about on this project, herself included. "So do you think he's imaging things?"

"I don't want to say anything without anything concrete backing it up. Let me run some simulations on the computer first to see how likely this is. If you can get Jack to come in..."

"Sure give me the hard job." He smiled as he turned to the computer. "Let me know if you find anything." He nodded without turning away from the screen. As she left the room Rachel hoped Jack's mind was playing tricks on him. His mood hasn't been that great ever since they sent him after that group of children. And he was never happy about what he was turned into to begin with. There was no clue on how this was going to affect him. She better make herself more available to talk things over if he wanted to. Of course with Jack that would probably be happening right after hell froze over.

"Yo Rachel!", Mitchell came around the corner. She slowed down so he could catch up. "Did you ever find Jack?"

"Yeah he was in the park getting some air."

"Going over his past 'victories'?", he made quotation marks in the air as he said that. That was something she never saw him do before. Then again she never saw him in the same light after his big picture comment from a while back either.

"No, I think he needed some 'me' time." At the moment she didn't think it was wise to let him in on Jack's current situation.

"Well his me time is getting into his training time. It's been awhile since his he had one."

"He was a little indisposed for a couple of months," she reminded him.

"All the more reason to catch up. A weapon that's getting dull is of no use to anybody."

She stopped and grabbed his arm to make him face her. "You did not just say that. First of all Jack is not a weapon."

Mitchell freed himself from her grasp. "You may not want to see it that way but it's his place in the universe now. The both of you better get used to it." He walked off.

"I'm really starting to hope Jack did get stronger," she said mainly to herself, "because I can't wait to see the look on your face."

"Sorry I'm late," Williams said as she entered the command center. "I wanted to double check the information we gotten a hold of. I'm sure nobody wants a repeat of what happened in the forest." She looked at Haily and Davidson as she passed by them. "Rachel, Jack," she said evenly.

"Did it get a little cold in here?", Davidson muttered to Haily who hushed him.

"The extra caution is appreciated," Anderson told her. "Hopefully with Allen out of the picture it won't happen again."

"Unless there's another Allen in here somewhere," Davidson said.

"Let's hope not." He turned to Williams, "So was the information accurate?"

"It seems that way."

Davidson raised a hand, "For those of us who don't know what the information is."

"Forgive me. Some of our informants have told us of an envoy, possibly carrying something important to the rebels."

"Do we know what it is?", Haily asked.

"It could be a plan," Williams answered, "could be a memo, they could be escorting person. But there is one little problem. There are apparently three different couriers. They could each have a piece of what ever it is or two of the three could be decoys."

"Good thing my bike gets good gas mileage." Anderson had to smile to that one.

"While that's true it will not necessary for this one. We're sending out three teams. Mitchell will send out two teams to intercept two of the couriers. You will intercept the third Mr. Davidson."

"Alone, of course," he said, not seeming overjoyed by the prospect.

"There is a worry that a team would get in your way seeing how effective you are on your own."

"I'm up to testing that theory out."

"Perhaps on a less sensitive mission," he told him.

"Our information, "Williams continued, "say the three routes they're on will take them through the quieter parts of the city. So hopefully we can contain the situation as much as possible."

Haily asked another question," Are we going to track them to where ever they're going?"

"No, our primary concern is the information they may have. Mr. Davidson you will be stationed here at the docks. It should be quiet this time of year so you shouldn't be stopped as you investigate."

"That's a pretty big area for little old me to cover," he said sounding surprised.

"I'm sure you can handle it."

"Is it too late to mention I'm allergic to seafood?"

"No your not," Haily told him. "You were eating a fish sandwich the other day."

"It comes and goes." Haily obviously wasn't buying the story and crossed her arms in front of her. "I get seasick real easily? Eh, it was worth a shot." Davidson headed out of the room. Haily sighed heavily and followed him out.

"I would have though killing a child would have affected him more," Willaims said after they left.

"I'm sure he's feeling it on the inside," Anderson told her. But he had to agree in some way. If they were trying to convince people he went through with it, or a least felt something, they should at least know how to act.

Jack sat on an old crate with his jacket buttoned up. He passed the time by watching his breath on the chilly night and tracking the half moon in the sky. A small part of him remembered there was suppose to be a half moon the night the monkey blew up the mountain. The things you remember about events you wanted to forget. He saw Rachel get off her crate and start walking around trying to warm up. "I told you to bring a heavier jacket."

"Like you knew it was going to be this cold," she snapped while rubbing her arms.

"Well they got this new thing called the Weather Channel."

"Whatever." She paced some more. "You know a gentleman would give me his coat."

"I'll see if I can find you one," he said as he flipped the hood over his head.

"Would it hurt you to at least make the offer?"

"You might take me up on it than I'd be cold." Leaning back he said, "At least it's warmer out here than it was in the command center."

"What were you expecting?" She sat back on her crate, "Do you think we should tell them now? The kids have to be miles away from here by now."

"If they were smart they'll be in another state all together." He scanned the docks again. Same as before nothing but a bunch of water and warehouses. But for a moment he thought he saw an old man in a suit standing by a warehouse door. Looking a little closer he didn't see anything there, but he got off his crate anyway. He knew that old man. "Max?", he uttered quietly.

"You see something?", Rachel asked looking in the direction he was

Jack looked at her than back to the door. "Just... stretching my legs a bit." He then started waving his arms around to keep up the act. But his gaze kept going back to that spot. His imagination was playing trick with him, that had to be it. There was no way Max could have been there.

"Well I think I do," she was pointing toward the other end of the dock. A shadow just went behind a building. No way he'd imagined that one. "Come on, I'll follow while you head that way and cut him off."

"Right, be careful." Jack hurried off to catch whoever it was before she caught up with it. Taking the corner he flat out ran down the space between the buildings. He heard two sets of footsteps coming at him but it turned to one soon enough. Jack slowed down when he saw the briefcase just sitting on the ground. Rachel came up soon after just as confused as he was.

"Did you see anybody?", she asked almost out of breath.

"Would I be standing here if I saw anybody?"

"This one had to be a decoy, why else would he leave it?"

"I don't know, maybe so we stand around looking like a couple of...," he trailed off. They both looked like they had the same thought. "Ah crap," he looked up to see a mass of blue coming at them. He pushed Rachel out of the way as it landed and knocked him back. He stared into the black eyes of a Drakan that looked a like a grasshopper. He quickly raised his left arm and the belt materialized around over the jacket. He moved the arm to the left and raised his right arm. The grasshopper suddenly jumped over him and grabbed him around the neck. The pressure quickly grew and he couldn't breath. Jack tried to elbow the thing behind him but couldn't get a good shot in. Running out of ideas he kicked his right leg back between it's legs. It made a noise and the pressure around his neck stopped. He pushed away to get some distance between them and got his arms back into position. "Henshin!," he choked out and hit the top of the belt. He turned around to face the Drakan as Fusion armor covered him.

Holding his neck for a moment he punched the grasshopper in the face as it straightened up. Unleashing a backhand he made the Drakan spin around. He wasn't expecting the foot that came around and caught him in the head. Jack's head snapped back as he went to a knee. Its' knee came up and hit him under the chin and he fell to his back. The Drakan stomped his foot down onto his chest and he felt it through the armor. Jack grabbed the foot and twisted. The antennas on it's' head went wild as it tried to maintain its' balance. He kicked it in the back as he got to his feet. The grasshopper went down but it planted its' hands and kicked both of its' feet back. Jack went flying from the impact.

Jack slowly got up saying, "Oh yeah, I felt that one." He looked up to see the Drakan rushing at him. "Oy," was all he got out before the grasshopper tackled him and they crashed into a set of crates behind him. Jack slammed his forearms into the side of its' head, stunning it. Letting his frustration get the 

better of him he picked the Drakan up, turned and slammed him back into the crates. Jack started throwing punches then threw the grasshopper out of the mess. He ran in with every intention of pounding that bug into the ground. But it jumped out of the way so all he got was concrete. Jack watched as it landed and jumped again, this time landing on the roof of a warehouse. "No you don't," he said as he ran and jumped to the roof too.

The grasshopper looked surprised to see him up there. For a brief moment he impressed himself before he got serious again. He charged the grasshopper praying it was still too shocked to move. Faking a punch he hit a side kick to the stomach. He missed an elbow to the back of its' head that left him open to a leg sweep. Jack blocked a stomp aimed at his head and got to his feet quickly. He saw the meter start to flash. Jack grabbed the right pod on his belt and twisted up. The charge that built up went up his side and down his right arm rather quickly. Making a fist he ducked a swing and landed a straight punch to its ribs. The grasshopper flew over the side before exploding. He held his back for a moment after it was over, "Gonna feel this one in the morning."

"I have some unfortunate news," Mr. Anderson said the next day. Jack muttered something under his breath but she paid attention to the boss. "While all three teams successfully intercepted their targets all three turned out to be decoys. In fact all three cases were rigged to explode when opened."

"Well duh," Jack blurted out," they got a monkey who has explosives as a hobby."

"True, fortunately the one who found this out personally is going to survive."

"You gonna hook him up too?", Jack asked.

"A second operative with the Fusion system cold be helpful," she added. "If he was treated right," she aimed the shot directly at Mitchell who ignored it.

He did say, "Outside of a hand he's not considered a candidate."

"Dude doesn't know how lucky he is then," Jack said as he got up and headed for the door. "I got something to check out, so later."

She got up too, "I have to finish the report. I'll have it for you as soon as I can." She really wasn't in the mood to be in the same room as Mitchell at the moment, no matter who else was in there.

Anderson waited until the door was closed before speaking to Mitchell, "Well?"

"Danny found nothing." Anderson didn't bother to hide his disappointment. "If Jack found the dart he's not hiding it in his apartment."

"But we still can't count out the possibility that he has it, so I sent him out for nothing," he sighed heavily. "At least three rebels operatives are out of the picture so the nights wasn't a total loss." He turned to look out his window. "Are you thinking the same thing I am about the information we received?"

"They were seeing were they got leaks." Anderson's thought exactly.

"Well we have to be a little more careful about what we hear from now on."

Jack found the door open and the man he was looking for sitting at his desk. He knocked on the door any way. Dr. Friedman looked at him and gave him a friendly smile after a moment. "Can I come in?"

"Anytime at all," he got up looking a little concerned. "Are you feeling any after affects from last night?"

"Nothing a couple of aspirin won't fix, but that's not why I'm here."

"Oh," he looked curious, "why are you here than?"

He hesitated for a bit, "I can trust you to keep something on the down low right?"

"Of course, what kind of doctor would I be if I couldn't?"

"Do you remember that Drakan at the college campus from a couple of days back?"

"Yes, I heard it wasn't violent so you let it alone. It was the talk of the building for the rest of the day."

"Yeah but nobody knows I went back." Friedman's demeanor changed slightly.

"And you fought and killed him," he said rather matter of factly. Almost like he was expecting it.

"That wasn't the idea when I went back."

"Oh?"

"I don't know about you but I noticed some things that's not meshing with everything else. I went back hoping he had some answers."

"So what happened?"

"Well we were talking then I think he got hit with something. As crazy as this sounds he went nuts and attacked me right after that. You have to believe me, I didn't want it to happen that way. But after it was over I found this," he reached into a pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. Unwrapping it revealed the black dart. "You think you can tell me what was in this?"

"Maybe, but do you think somebody wanted you to fight the Drakan?"

"I wouldn't believe it either, but it's the only thing that's making sense right now."

"Can I ask you why you want to know so badly?"

"I come across a lot of rotten people in my life, and he was definitely one of the good ones. If somebody wanted this done to him I want to put his head on a pike."

"I'll try my best, but I'm not promising anything but I'll try to see what was in here." Jack nodded than looked over the doctor's shoulder into his open briefcase.

"Hopefully it's not that." He pointed to a bottle holding a neon green liquid. "That's some nasty looking stuff you got there."

"Oh that," he said nervously, "a colleague of mine gave it too me. I have a patient who's severely sick. He said that would help him in some way." Friedman was quiet for a few moments and looked at him. "Although I'm starting to wonder if the side effects are worse than the actual disease at the moment."

"Nothing can be as bad as that looks, but I'm sure you'll make the right decision."

"I hope your right." He pocketed the dart and patted it. "I'll let you know what I find as soon as I can."

"Thanks Doc. I don't know how it will help, but maybe it'll give another piece of the puzzle I didn't have before." Friedman agreed and he left the room. He reached the elevator and went in. Before the door closed he thought he heard the sound of breaking glass, but he dismissed it. "First you're seeing things and now you're hearing things. Davidson this place is driving you crazy."


	13. Chapter 13

Episode 13

Like she thought Jack was walking behind her sulking all the way. He looked that way ever since she told him he was wanted down in R&D. Why it was so hard to get him down there lately she didn't think she would ever know. But she did believed she heard him mumble something like, "What are they thinking about tweaking now?". Too bad she couldn't tell him anything about what they had planned. Mr. Anderson secretary only told her that they thought they had a way to test this strength theory of his.

"Cheer up Jack, at least you'll find out either way if you're right or not."

"If it involves hooking me up to something I'm performing my own test," he answered sounding a little edgy.

"Why are you so grumpy today? I thought you would have felt better knowing if you were stronger or not."

"I guess," he seemed a little distracted. "Sorry, I haven't been sleeping well lately."

She stopped, "Are you having that nightmare again?"

"Most of the time," he kept on walking. Rachel hurried to catch up.

"What about the rest of the time?"

"Just some... things that's been going around in my head."

"Like what?"

"Look I don't want to talk about this, I just want to get this stupid thing over with."

"Alright, but were not done talking about this."

"Yes we are," he said like there was nothing to it. She was positive he did that to push her buttons.

"I can make that an order," she said mainly as a joke. He apparently didn't take it that way.

"Hey," he snapped, "you can't order me to tell you my personal problems."

"Whoa," she put her hands up, "relax killer." Mistake number two right there and she knew it. Mentally kicking herself she said, "Sorry, slip of the tongue.

"Sure." They walked on in relative silence. Finally he said, "I think we're both gonna need a vacation after this is over." She had to agree, a vacation was sounding pretty good right about now. They arrived at R&D soon enough and stared at the contraption that was in the room. "These guys ain't busy enough."

"Yeah," she found herself agreeing. There was a pad suspended between two poles on the far wall. Numerous wires connected the pad to a row of monitors on a nearby table by the door. Jack walked up to a half empty basket of baseballs. The other half was being picked up by a couple of assistants. "Ah Barry?"

"Hi guys," he came up to them while tossing a ball into the air. "As you can see I had a little brain storm after your last visit Rachel."

"I'm guessing I don't punch anything?", Jack asked while eyeing the ball.

"Without any data from before your upgrade that would be pointless. As would any weight lifting type of test. I figure throwing a few fastballs would the next best thing. I got the idea after I remembered an commercial years ago were a pitcher was pushing his throwing arm into a barrel of rice to keep it strong. I already had several people throw a few to develop a baseline for the test."

"You put a lot of thought into this," she was very impressed with all of this.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to buy a radar gun?", Jack asked him.

"Then they wouldn't have the chance to build something from scratch," Anderson came from behind them. "I thought I come by and see how the test went."

"Can I give it a go?", she asked. Barry tossed her the ball. She moved so she stood behind a tape line on the floor. Rachel threw the ball as hard as she could and hit the pad dead center. After a moment an ninety two popped up on one of the monitors. "Still got it," she smirked to herself.

"That's pretty good," Jack said obviously impressed, then he quickly added, "for a girl."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Jack said nothing as he took a ball out of the basket. Then he handed it toward Mr. Anderson.

He held up a hand, "I was never much of an athlete."

"Oh come on, you know you wanna. Besides," he had a sly grin on his face, "I want to see how bad I smoke ya."

Anderson took the ball and studied it," Well, I suppose throwing one won't be too humiliating." He took a spot behind the mark and threw the ball. It registered a seventy two. He adjusted his suit, "Like I said I'm not very athletic."

"It's still better than Tim's best throw," Barry told them.

"No surprise there," Jack muttered as he grabbed another ball and got ready to do the test. He juggled it a few times before actually throwing it. The ball hit the pad harder than she was expecting. Everyone turned to the monitor and waited. One sixty two. Barry whistled at the results.

"Well," he said after a moment, "if this company had baseball team you'd definitely be the star pitcher."

The waiting was getting to him. Barry and his group spent a good half hour going over the results after he threw a few more at the pad. Rachel and Anderson were hovering by making some small talk. They tried to get him in on the conversation, but he grunted if he answered at all. His attention was on Barry's group. Too bad he didn't get enhanced hearing to go with the enhanced strength. Better keep quiet about that before they got any ideas. But he had an idea what they were going to say. Most people might say he was being paranoid, but he saw the way these R&D guys looked at him. He could see the wheels turning in their heads, thinking of ways to improve the Fusion systems. It really sucks being a prototype.

"Relax Mr. Davidson," Anderson told him, his frustrations were apparently showing. "Didn't anybody tell you patients was a virtue?"

"My Uncle did once." He snorted as he thought about it, "But I think my mom would kill me if I took after him more."

"I'd believe it," Racheal said.

"One of these days you're going to have to tell me about this Uncle of yours Mr. Davidson."

"I'll have my people call your people and we'll do lunch."

Barry broke away from the group and came toward them. "Well," he began, "it's pretty obvious Jack is stronger in his powered down state. Something we didn't see coming."

"Obviously," he said dryly.

"Well is this stable now?", Rachel asked him. "I mean is he going to get stronger as time goes on?"

"I don't know," Barry admitted, "not without running some more tests first." He knew Barry would be using those words sooner or later.

"Do we have any options?" Anderson wondered. "Obviously this is going to be an inconvenience to Mr. Davidson. If he does become stronger he could become a danger to those around him."

"Thanks, I needed that thought in my head," he mumbled.

Barry started rubbing his chin, "Well, we could adjust the system. After we find out where the power ratios went wrong it'll be easy to fix. Of course he'll have to spend a few days in a tank while we fine tune things."

He had heard enough, "I don't think so."

"But Jack...," Barry started.

"No buts," he cut him off, "I said no."

"Are you sure Mr. Davidson? Something like this could be hard to get used to."

"I'll live with it." With that he left the room. He walked down several hallways before stopping. Leaning against a wall he put his face in his hands. Power ratios, fine tune, they were talking like he was a freaking car. Not for the first time he thought Richie was the lucky one in that avalanche.

"Are you going to be alright?", Rachel asked after she caught up. He put his hands down and nodded. "I knew you wouldn't go for it."

"You should have told them that. I already spent over six months in that goop."

"I was thinking more about the adjustments."

"That too."

She leaned against the wall too, "I'm a pretty good listener you know."

"I know, you say it every chance you get." Jack put his head back against the wall. "I didn't ask for this you know. I didn't wake up one morning wishing somebody would turn me into a freak. But somebody did any way. Now because they were given the ok to tinker with things my boss thinks I could become a danger to everyone around me."

"Hey, it's just a concern he had." She put a hand on his shoulder, "Nobody thinks you're going to be a danger to anybody."

"Yeah, but what about the other night when I pushed you out of the way before I found out I could throw a one sixty fastball? What if I hurt you?"

"You didn't so don't even think about that. Even in the off chance you did get stronger, we'll help you through it. I'll help you get through it." He put a hand on hers, gently, and smiled wearily.

"I know, I'm just tired Rachel." He looked at both of his hands. "Tired of this crap inside me. Tired of smelling like death. I'm tired of this whole situation. I'm tired of feeling like a freakin' lab rat!" He turned and punched the wall in frustration. His fist went through the plaster, a little past his wrist. Just what he needed, a reminder he had to think about this stuff now. "Great, just great."

"Does anything feel like it's broken?", Rachel asked with concern in her voice.

"No," he said more annoyed with himself than anything.

"Did it make you feel any better?"

"It did before I realized I'm probably gonna have to pay to get this fixed." After a moment he stated chuckling at the situation, Rachel joined in. "Mom warned me stuff like this would happen if I wasn't careful."

"Punch a lot of wall in your time huh?"

"I usually saved it for the punching bag in the basement. I got to remember to buy one of those."

"Hey Jack," two security guards passed by. "What happened here?"

He opened his mouth but Rachel spoke first, "Wall sprung a leak."

"You beat me to it," he whined.

"Sure man, sure." Before they walked off one pointed at him, "Don't forget man, tonight at eight o'clock. Without the wall."

"Yeah, yeah." They turned the corner and were out of sight. "I really wish they'd forgot about that."

"Forget about what?"

"Nothing important." He tugged on his arm to remove it from the wall, it wouldn't budge. "Uh-oh." He pulled a little harder as Rachel stifled a laugh. "A little help here." She got between him and the wall, reached behind his head and pulled the hood over it.

"I'll see if I can find you some," she patted him on the shoulder and walked off.

He watched her leave shaking his head, "Should have given her the jacket." Looking around he didn't see anybody around. "Oh, what the hell." Putting his foot on the wall he pulled with all he had and freed his hand. He also ended up making the hole bigger. Dusting the gloves off he looked around, still nobody around. So he put his hands in his pockets and walked off whistling.

"You should have seen this coming," Anderson said as he paced the room. Armstrong sent every else in the room away so he felt free in expressing dissatisfaction. "This is totally unacceptable."

"I know," Armstrong said, too calmly. "This is the prototype stage after all, things like this are going to happen. Just think about how this information is going to benefit the Fusion system mark two."

"The mark two is the farthest thing on my mind right now." He stopped pacing and calmed himself. "My apologizes Dr. Armstrong. Certain things have been eating at my mind lately. I did not mean to blow this situation out of proportion."

"No worrys sir, I've done the same thing to my staff a few times. This can be fixed, it's just a matter of convincing Jack to let us do it."

"You might have a better time in convincing him to pull his own teeth." Armstrong agreed. Taylor walked in talking on his cell phone. He hung up as he came close. "What is it Taylor?"

"We might have a lead on Christopher."

He refused to get his hopes up. "Are you sure? I will not go through another debacle like the one Allen put us through."

"I'd stake my life on it."

"Good because your life depends in this being accurate." He picked a baseball out of the basket. "Get Mitchell in on this. If this is accurate I don't want Christopher leaving where ever he is alive. Is this understood?"

"Perfectly sir."

"Good." Anderson looked at the ball in his and than at the pad. Not holding anything back this time he threw it into the pad. As he readjusted his tie he looked at the moniter. Four fifty one. "Smoke me indeed."

Jack wasn't sure what Hell looked like but this had to be close. That team he saved when all this started finally got him to agree to go out for drinks to thank him. That included the entire scout team on the assignment. But for some reason it grew to include the apparent fan club that was slowly grew among Mitchell's men. Now the whole lot of them were sitting around bragging about the Drakan they've killed. He just sat at the bar drinking his beer, ignoring everything around him. Too bad they wouldn't let him do it in peace.

Two of the guards, Terry and Dave, he thought that's what people called them, stood on both sides of him. From the smell they definitely more than a few already. "Jack," Dave said, "we were talking a bit back there and do you know what we realized?"

"You got a collective I.Q. of two?"

"What a kidder," Terry slapped him on the back, spilling some of his beer in the process.

"Naw man, we realized that out of all the guys in the room, you killed more of those freaks than anybody. But I got to know one thing, what are you feeling while your doing it? I mean, I feel good 'cause we're helping getting rid of these freaks. Hell, if I had my way I'd wipe 'em all out if I had the chance, bunch of freaks." Jack looked at Dave through narrowed eyes. He was on the scout team that checked out the safe house with the elephant. "But you, what are you feeling?"

Jack looked at the bottle in his hands then at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar. "Not a thing, not a damn thing." Terry slapped him on the back again.

"I told you this guy was stone cold. You have to be to take out a bunch of kids like he did."

"Good riddance," Dave said after a drink. "Less of those things the better. Get 'em before they can breed, right dude?"

"Damn right," Terry readily agreed.

If he heard any more of this he was going to activate the system and start knocking heads together. The fact that was sounding more and more like a good idea by the moment said it was time to leave. So he quickly finished off his beer and got out from between the two. He doubted either of them noticed he left seeing how they were so into there "conversation".

"Where are you going?", somebody asked.

"Nature's calling." They nodded and went back to talking. He was almost out of there. Then he ran into Mitchell.

"Leaving early buddy?", he asked. "You don't look that drunk to me."

"I got to drive home." There was a loud crash and a lot of laughing at something. "Glad I don't have to pay for that."

"I see the boys are starting to get a little rowdy. It's good for them to blow off a little steam like this." Jack looked back into the room. An idiot was standing with his back turned to the others and a bottle on his head while a couple of other were taking aim. He would hate to be around when these guys started blowing off a lot of steam. "Sure you can't stay for a few more drinks? There on me."

He tapped his arm, "Don't want to rust." Mitchell gave a short loud laugh.

"That's pretty good, I like that one." Mitchell clapped him on the shoulder and went into the bar. "Alright you goldbricks, time to show you the proper way to get wasted."

That was definitely his cue to leave. Jack got to the front door but took a left into the men's room and locked the door. Leaning against the sink he looked at his reflection in the mirror one more time. Back in school, when he thought about what he would be doing when he was older, this wasn't what he imagined. He pulled down the neckline of his shirt to reveal a couple of the scars. Nope, not even close. He hung his head feeling the weight of the situation. This night was not helping it get any lighter. Three of these guys were in his room back at World Inc. that night. His first major clue that something was up. And he was no closer to figuring out what was up or who shot that dart. But Dave and Terry might have pointed him in the right direction by accident. Oh what a night. Jack looked back into the mirror and saw the amphibious eyes of a green frog staring back at him. "Holy...!", he turned around and saw nothing but empty space. He looked back at the mirror but only saw his reflection. Looking back and forth with his heart beating at warp speed he muttered, "Maybe a few more beers wouldn't hurt."

Rachel exited the elevator holding her head. She mumbled a few choice words in French thinking about that meeting she just left. She prayed the aspirin was still in the glove box. If she had to go through that after every mission she was going to hurt somebody. "Rachel." Dr. Freidman walked away from his car. "What are you doing here so late?"

"Accounting has a new penny pinching bean counter. He called me in to go over every expense on the mission Jack's been in. I talking everything from what were paying Jack to how much gas we're using. Would you believe he told me to buy a more fuel efficient car?"

"Wait, would this be a tall, skinny guy with these huge wire frame glasses?"

"You already dealt with him I see."

"He asked me if I really needed a machine that was keeping a patient of mine alive." Rachel groaned, she knew guys like that back in high school. That attitude really rubbed her the wrong way. She was all with saving a little money but that was extreme. It was the same with Freidman apparently.

"Maybe we should introduce him to Jack," she joked.

"That would cruel for one of them, I'm just not sure who at the moment. Oh that reminds me, when you see Jack tell him I identified what was in that dart he gave me."

"What dart?", she asked.

"You know, the one that he said made a Drakan go crazy and attack him. The one at the campus when he went back." A look of realization grew on his face. "You have no clue what I'm talking about do you?" She started shaking her head slowly. "I think I said too much," and he turned to leave.

"Wait, what are you talking about."

"All I can tell you is talk to Jack, he's the one who told me about the dart."

"But why didn't he tell me about it?", she wondered out loud.

Jack brought the bike to a stop at a red light. He left the bar and the party a few hours ago and was just driving around town. He decided he needed some air more than he needed another beer. Especially after a bottle of something flew past his head and the guys cheering in approval as it exploded on the wall. He speed off as the light turned green. Jack glanced down a couple of alleys as he past them. A shadow high on a wall caught his attention. It didn't look all that human. He told himself to keep on going and that it was none of his business. Half a block later he turned the bike around and headed back, "Damn it."

He got off the bike and looked down the alley as he took his helmet off. The shadow had just jumped down from where it was. Carefully he went down in case he was falling for another trap. It wasn't long before he found the source of the shadow. The red Drakan he saw had a bald head and a ring of ragged feathers around its' neck like a vulture. It had a blue Turtle around the neck and twisted, he could hear the sickening snap from where he was. The vulture let the turtle drop and turned his attention to a dark haired woman a little further down the alley. She hunched down and turned into a green Tiger with darker green stripes. He wasn't exactly sure but it looked like the vulture's beak was grinning. The sick bastard was actually enjoying this. "Hey!", he shouted to get it's attention.

"Go away human," the vulture warned, "or your next."

"Right." Jack raised his left arm across his chest and the belt formed around his waist. Swinging his left arm to the side he brought his right up to his face. "Henshin!", and he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. It scanned his body and he was soon wearing the black body suit and blue armor of the Fusion system.

The tiger took a step back, "The Drakan Killer."

"So you're the Killer. After I'm done with this one we'll compare notes." The vulture turned to look at the tiger. He ran in and pulled the vulture back. "What are...," it started before he punched him. Jack spun in place and kicked him back. "You idiot! We're on the same side." It pointed to the tiger behind him. "She's one of the rebels!"

"I don't know if that's true or not but you're the one with blood on your hands."

"Pot calling the kettle black Killer." The vulture got up and started throwing punches at him. he kept his arms up to block the fist coming at him. Then its' foot came up and caught him in the gut. He took a step back, side stepped a lunge and brought his knee up. The vulture breathed out hard as he bent from the impact. He went to throw it into the wall but it tripped him up. It started kicking him in the sides as he tried to get up. Then the Vulture grabbed him by the back collar of the armor and pulled him up. He was forced face first into the wall and it leaned against him. "Come on Killer," it said in his ear," you know we're exactly alike, why should we fight?"

"I'm nothing like you," he growled as he pushed off the wall. Jack backhanded the vulture as he turned around. He grabbed it by the shoulder and threw it into the wall and started punching it to the ground. The last punch crack the vulture's beak up the side. Jack picked the Drakan back up and started punching again. The vulture ducked a punched and pushed him back. It tried to make a move for the tiger and he tried to stop it. Jack came away with a fist full of red feathers as the vulture yelped in pain and grabbed his neck. Its' eyes narrowed as it jumped up and tried to kick him in the head.

Jack dodged the kick and grabbed it around the neck as it landed. He briefly thought about snapping its' neck like it did the turtle's. His gaze came around to the tiger. She already smelt like death, he couldn't add to it. He glanced at the meter, it was close to flashing, now he had to think quick. There was a dumpster that looked like it was close enough to use. The vulture elbowed him in the side so he released his grip and punched him in the back of the head. It was stunned long enough for him to rip the lock off and open the lid. The vulture rushed in like he hopped it would. When it was close enough he grabbed it and threw it into the dumpster, the lid clanging loudly as it came down. He twisted the right pod up and he got into position, waiting as the charge went down his arm. The vulture raised the lid looking groggy and saw him perched there. Jack punched it back into the dumpster and slammed the lid down quickly. He held onto it as there was a muffled explosion and the dumper shook a little.

He started breathing heavy after it was over. "I can't be anything like you," he whispered. That comment touched a nerve, no doubt about it. Jack steeped away and was surprised the tiger was still there. "You know, a smart person would have left by now," he said trying not to sound threatening. She said nothing, just staring at him. Taking a step toward her made her back up and fall. He looked at himself, this wasn't going to cut it, so he hit the top of the belt. The system powered down as he knelt down to look her eye to eye. "You all right?"

She reverted back to her human form, blue eyes wide in surprise," You're concerned?" He shrugged his shoulders. "But you're the Drakan Killer."

"So I've heard." He got up and offered her a hand. Warily she took it and he helped her up. "Let me ask one more time, are you all right?"

"I think so," she said sounding a little stunned.

"Ok then. I'd offer to take you home, but my reputation and all." He started to walk off, fully aware he was leaving himself expose if she decided to attack. Right now he really didn't care if she did or not.

"Why are you letting me live?"

"Because," he paused to look at the dumpster as he passed it, "for the first time in a long time I'm pretty sure who the bad guy was."


	14. Chapter 14

Episode 14

He and the thing he was facing were surrounded by a quiet, familiar mountain range. That calm was shattered the moment he shouted, "Henshin!", and charged the shape in front of him. The rage inside him grew as it turned into the blue monkey the closer he got. The moment he was close enough to strike it faded away. Then he was hit from behind. As he went down he kicked out a foot but the monkey wasn't there. He pounded the ground as frustration started mingling with the rage inside of him. When he got to his feet he was greeted by a blue furry foot that knocked him down again.

Quickly he got up and looked around but it was no where to be found. It had to be some where around here but where? He felt something behind him and he swung a fist back. A strike at his head was blocked and he planted a foot into a monkey's gut. It didn't disappear this time, "Gotcha!". He hit an uppercut that snapped its' head back. Grinning behind the mask he grabbed the monkey by the back of the head and smashed his knee into its' head repeatedly. The monkey somehow grabbed onto his other leg and tripped him.

The next thing he knew that damn Drakan was on top of him trying to pound him into the ground. Blocking the blows as best he could he tried to get a shot in. Finally he got his right hand through, gripping it around the throat and started squeezing. Before long the Drakan stopped beating on his head and tried to remove the hand from around its' neck. Then he got the other hand on its' neck and squeezed even more. He forced the monkey to its' back and wouldn't let go. The monkey slowly stopped fighting and its' eyes went dead. He slowly got to his feet and hovered over the carcass for a moment. "Go to Hell," he spat and walked off.

He didn't get far before a deep, evil laugh filled the air. Turning around the monkey rose up unnaturally and looked at him. Confusion and a hint of fear quickly replaced the rage and frustration. The very next instant it had crossed the distance between them and hit him in the chest. He flew back hard, skidding as he landed. It was on him again and picked him up by the chest armor. They looked eye to eye before it said, "You first," and threw him. The meter started flashing as he staggered to his feet. The monkey grinned, banged its' chest and held its' arms wide open. It was almost like it knew what was happening. Well if it wanted to die that bad he was willing to go along with it. He grabbed the right pod and twisted down, nothing happened.

"What?", he twisted the pod up and down several times with the same result. He looked for the button under the belt then started pounding on the pod to try to get it to work. Again the monkey was right in front of him before he knew it. The Drakan palmed his head and jumped. He was planted into the side of the mountain before he was thrown again. The monkey waved its' hands around its' waist and the Fusion belt appeared it. His armor faded away that same instant, "No."

It grinned evilly and uttered a demonic sounding, "Henshin." The Fusion armor formed around the monkey's shape. It lifted up a hand made a waving motion. Out of nowhere other shapes started walking foreword. He recognized them almost instantly: a frog, a rabbit, an ox, just about all the Drakan he fought and killed stood by the monkey side. All of they were wearing the Fusion belt. The Drakan glanced at them and nodded once. All the belts glowed brightly and all of them were incased in the Fusion armor.

He started to run but something grabbed his right arm. An old man in a suit held on tightly. "Max what are you doing?" Then something grabbed his left arm. To say he was surprised didn't even begin to 

cover it. That solemn look he had never seen on that face before but he could recognize that curly hair and those glasses anywhere, "Richie?" His friend said nothing, just looked up the mountain. The armored Drakan, almost as one, reached for the belt. Some twisted the pod down while other pressed the button that used to be there. He struggled to get free, "Whoa... wait, damn it let me go!" The Drakans jumped up and aimed their feet at him.

"NOOO!", Jack woke up screaming, crossing his arms in front of him. Breathing hard he slowly put his arms down and looked around. He was still in his bed, alive for the most part. What the hell, instead of going away that damn nightmare was getting worse. Ever since Max. He sat there waiting for his heart to stop trying to burst through his chest. Jack glanced at the clock. It said it was three in the morning. He'd only been asleep for a few hours. Laying back down he stared at the ceiling for a long time. Finally he swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up saying, "Sleep is over rated any way."

The past few nights had been cooler than usual and his left arm was aching from it. Ever since that abomination broke it. One of the things he had to learn to live with from the encounter. Like the fact he was now part of Christopher's inner circle. Only because he was one of the very few that survived the Killer. That group grew by one the other night. Christopher's sister Melissa was the latest to walk away unharmed. The others happened to be a group of children being watched over by Thomas Rodgers son Aaron. Of course the pup decided to stay, another green to the cause. That disgusted him more than anything.

Of course he was as much of an outsider in that group as he was to the inner circle. He didn't escape, the metal bug let them go. Something that stuck in his gut to no end. But that was no where near as bad as what he had been hearing lately. Everybody was united in the opinion that the thing had to be stopped. Now there was talk that it wasn't as evil as originally thought. Maybe it could be persuaded to switch sides. That nonsense made him want to retch. Fortunately it affected other in the circle the same way. They were just as vocal about it as he was.

Too bad the old man was in the other court and was just as vocal about his doubts. "I agree something has to be done," he said after some of the argument had died down. "But I still say we can't do anything without knowing all the facts first."

"The fact is," someone blurted out," it killed our kind."

"We've killed our kind too," someone else countered. "Don't forget that fact."

"That's different."

"How is it different exactly?"

"Because sometimes death is necessary to get the mission done."

"It was on a mission too," Christopher spoke suddenly. He wasn't looking at them, just staring into space.

"Look Christopher, I realize it spared your sister..."



"Saved," he cut in, "it saved my sister."

"That doesn't mean it's not a threat now. That mission is to take us out. What it did can not out weigh what it has done."

"We all done some things for the cause we weren't proud of," the old man told him.

"Or a decision we were forced to live with," Christopher said. Jason's eyes narrowed. What decision did the want to be king regret. Heading up the cause perhaps? Whatever he was feeling Christopher shut it down and was soon back to business. "I'll admit I'm having my doubts about the Drakan Killer. He may be a pawn in all of this. We all know how Anderson likes to manipulate people to get his way."

"He might be doing it now," Jason spoke up. Several of them looked at him for speaking out of turn. Christopher, however, leaned foreword.

"How so?"

"He could have orchestrated the whole event to make sure your sister believed it was saving her."

"You're reaching for straws here," the old man countered. "I seriously doubt even Anderson would sacrifice one of his own men just for show."

"According to our contact's report he did so to see if the thing would work like they designed it."

The old man shifted in his seat, "Now you want to believe what he says."

"What did your contact," Christopher asked, "tell you about the man inside this thing? What was his name again?"

"Jack Davidson, and he didn't talk about him much. The only time he started any kind of conversation with our contact was when he gave him the dart."

"This fairy tale again," someone moaned.

"We did our own test on it," the old man told them. "Even our people say the compound inside that thing could cause the affect the Killer said it did in the right dosage."

"And depending on the story he told the humans, he could prove whenever he wanted that we're the aggressors in all of this."

"Still doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything about the Killer."

"I agree," Christopher said, surprising every one. "Despite my doubts it should still be considered a threat to us, at the moment. And I might have an idea on how to deal with it."

She paid for her cup of coffee and turned to see Jack staring at something. Rachel wasn't sure if she should ask what he was looking at. He could be setting her up again for all she knew. Well if he did she 

could always "accidently" spill some of her coffee on him. After what Mitchell told her it might not be the last accident Jack could have today. "What's the hold up?"

He pointed into the cafeteria, "Those people over there."

This had to be a set up, "I don't see the problem."

"They're sitting at our table." She was still wasn't seeing it. "We always sit there."

"There are a few dozen empty seats we can sit at."

"That's not the point." He was actually being serious about this.

She pushed past him, "And my Dad said girls were too picky about things." Rachel took a table as far away from that table as she could. She had to smile as Jack took the seat across from her and shot a look at the other table. "I swear you try to make things harder than they have to be."

Jack looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Why do I get the feeling I did something."

"Mitchell talked to me a bit ago."

"That's something." Jack said as he looked around the room, maybe looking for an escape.

"So why were you beating the crap out of our guys? Mitchell told me he was very surprised when one of his guys went flying a few feet after you pushed him."

He immediately went on the defensive, "First of all it's not my fault nobody told Mitchell and his boys about the upgrade little side effect. And two Dave and Terry had it coming."

"Why did they supposedly have it coming?"

"You should have been at the party."

"Like I should have at the campus when you went back and found that dart?" Jack froze for an instant, like a kid caught getting caught sneaking a cookie.

"Why can't anybody keep there mouth shut around here?" he asked looking and sounding annoyed. "Freidman actually asked me what kind a doctor he would be if he couldn't keep his patient's secrets for crying out loud."

"Yeah about that, he thought I was in on it. For that matter why wasn't I told about this? If there's some kind of dart that can make the Drakan go crazy I should know about it."

He didn't look at her, "I wanted some more information about it before I told you anything."

"So what do you know about it?"

"You pretty much covered it."

"I still don't know why you didn't tell me. I could have helped you check this out. I'm starting to think you don't trust me." Again he wouldn't look at her. "You don't trust me?"

He quickly said, "I trust you, I trust you. But I felt I needed to play this one a little close to the vest.

"Next thing you'll be telling me you think World Inc. is behind it." He looked at her this time but didn't say anything. He didn't have to, she read it in his face. "Oh my God."

"Not the entire company, I'm pretty sure Heather wouldn't be in on it. And you too," he added as an after thought. "Besides, I don't know who's on what side at the moment. Terry and Dave drove that point home the other night."

"Is that why you beat them up then?"

"It was the main reason."

"What was the... wait I don't want to know. We're going to go over this in detail later."

"Off property, this place makes me a little jumpy lately."

"Lately? You always seemed jumpy when your here."

"It's like I told you before, you guys develop military prototypes yet animals run around and howl in the air ducts. But I haven't ruled out the possibility of it being a couple of Drakan in heat."

After all this time she was still amazed how he could switch gears from being serious to joking without breaking anything. "You are definitely one of a kind."

"Thank you."

"It wasn't a compliment." Jack quickly balled up a napkin and tossed it at her. She tossed it back. "You know, I would love to find out what the Drakan working here, if there are any more here that is, think about you being here."

"I like to know why they needed something like me to begin with. I mean there's a small army here, something like me seems like over kill."

"I guess they needed someone to go hand to hand with them if they had too."

Jack smiled for a moment for some reason. "Still seems like over kill."

"That's why you're not in charge. A fact I'm grateful for daily." Jack stuck his tongue out at her.

As she slowly sat down in the chair Christopher looked out the door. She leaned over slightly to see what held his attention. Melissa was tending to a "boo-boo" on one of the young ones. She had to smile, that one and her brother always had a way with children. The look Christopher had told her he wished things 

would stay this way forever. But he wouldn't have asked to see her if they were. "So, you're facing him in the Arena," she started.

He had a small smile on his face," So you saw it before I announced it."

She tapped the side of his leg with her cane. "It doesn't work that way and you know it. Word, however, travels faster than anybody would like. You do remember what I told you about a Drakan made of metal?"

"I remember," he replied looking distant, "but I have to face him anyway."

"Why do you have to?"

"Because they expect me to," he said as his feature darkened.

"That doesn't mean you should do it."

"Damn it Emily," he let go of some of the frustration he was holding. "Every time someone mentions the Drakan Killer and I'm around they look at me. I can see it in their eyes, I'm the one who's supposed to deal with this thing. The all mighty Christopher, unofficial leader of the great rebellion." A small glint returned to his eyes, "And now I guess I can add slayer of the Drakan Killer to my list of accolades."

"You always did make things sound larger than life."

"And it never impressed you, not even when I was little. Most of us Greens are full of hot air any way."

"True, but you were one of the few who had an actual cause to put your energy into. I doubt half of us would even be here if it wasn't for you. A lot of leaders say things, but you actually believe what you say so they believe what you say."

"But what happens to them if something happens to me?"

"No one is bigger than the cause Christopher, not even you. Even if the others don't want to believe it. We'll survive and go on. Our goal might take longer to complete. Of course there was no guarantee we would get what we want even with you in the lead." She used her cane to get up. Christopher came over to help her and she patted his hand. "And don't think I haven't noticed you telling and showing things to Melissa, just in case."

"I have to be prepared for anything," he said slowly, "you've told me that for as long as I can remember. The reason I asked to see you is will they have to go on without me?"

"I wish I could tell you child, but your path is fuzzy at the time you face the Killer. All I can tell you is the decisions both of you make will not only affect your destinies but of those around both of you." A wave of sadness came over her. "I wish I could tell you more than that," she said softly.

"It's alright Emily, it was more than enough." He kissed her on the forehead and hugged her. She tried to hide the feeling of dread that was growing inside her.



This was not the best week he ever had. They had a lead on Melissa so he sent one of his men after her. If something happened to her it had to affect Christopher in some way. Then his man disappeared, to make matter worse Davidson was in the area so he had an idea bout what happened. Now he read this, what was Christopher thinking? The Arena of all places. It was suppose to be a place were Drakan fought in battles of honor. He personally gained control of this company by defeating Allen's father there in combat. Now Christopher was using it to hide? Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Anderson put the file down as the others walked into the command center. Haily and Davidson took there usual spots. Actually Haily was Davidson went to the other side to the room for some reason. "There's more than one place to stand." Haily groaned as he made his way back to her. Like before he thought it was best not to inquire about the situation that much.

"You seem to be in a good mood today Mr. Davidson," he observed.

"I was bound to have one sooner or later."

"I suppose that's true. Before we start you wouldn't happen to know anything about a hole in the wall near R&D would you?"

"A hole in the wall? No, nothing ringing a bell at the moment. You know anything about it Rachel?"

"I think I would have noticed something like that."

"We don't know nothing," Davidson looked totally innocent as he spoke. Anderson had a monitor set up to show that was a lie but decided against it. He would rather see the mood change after he told him what he knew.

"Then I guess we should get down to business. I'll get right to the point, we know where the location of the rebel leader." Like he expected Davidson jovial mood disappeared, replaced by something darker.

"Are you sure this time?"

"I'm quite sure Mr. Davidson. The information was doubled check, then tripled check and doubled checked again. There will be no children this time around."

"Not that it mattered last time," Williams muttered, but not low enough that they didn't hear her. Davidson looked at the ceiling. Haily appeared to be uncomfortable but she was patting him on the back. How much longer before the situation exploded?

Apparently now because Davidson blurted, "They're alive alright, the kids are alive. None of them went boom." There were a few gasp in surprise around the room.

He might as well play along. "But Miss. Haily reported..."

"I lied," she said plainly. Although she did looked relived that it was finally out.

"Why would you lie about something like this?"

"So you leave them alone," Davidson told him.

"What would make you think we would go after children?"

"Have Mitchell's men knock back a few and you'll find out." That might explain why two of those men had to be looked at by Freidman and his staff earlier. He confirmed it by leaning over to Haily and saying, "Told you they had it coming." One of these days he was going to have to add sound to the video footage just so he wouldn't be left in the dark about these things.

They outlined the basic plan after about an hour. Williams wasn't sure how to act now that she knew the truth about the children. Davidson acted like nothing was ever wrong between them and even tried to get her to laugh a few times to lighten the mood of the room. Because of that he decided to throw Davidson a bone by saying he could try to take the leader alive if he could. It would make things a little more difficult but he readily agreed to it over Haily objections. After they left to get ready he went to a black phone on the wall. Mitchell picked up after the first ring. "Is your team ready to go?"

"We're getting ready to leave now."

"Good, make sure Haily and Davidson don't see you arrive. Do you remember what we discussed?"

"No rebel will leave the confrontation alive."

"Excellent, make sure it happens."

"What Jack doesn't get we will. But what about Jack?"

He thought about it for a moment. "We'll worry about him later. If he tries anything I'll be ready."

When they arrived Jack stared at the cave opening for a long time. He was concentrating so hard she had to nudge him to get his attention. When he looked at her she could see there was concern in his eyes. That was something she wasn't expecting. "What is it?"

"I was just wondering if the monkey was in there with him."

"Only one way to find out, right?" She headed for the cave. He put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. "This is a first."

"Stay out here."

"Jack I'm you mission operator. I'm going in with you."

"Look, I got a bad feeling about this. I'd feel better is you stayed out here."

"You didn't listen to me when I had reservations when they sent you after the monkey," she said as she crossed her arms. She had to remind him who exactly was in charge.



"I know, but you're supposed to be the smart out of the two of us," he snapped. Jack rubbed his face as he calmed down and tried another route. He put both hands on her shoulders, "I'm asking you, friend to friend, to stay out here for this one." She was going to tell him no but she locked eyes with him. Not only was he concerned he actually looked worried.

Slowly she nodded her head, "Alright, but you're filing the report."

"Just as long as you fix my errors, because guys like me are why they invented spell check." Jack squeezed her shoulders then got serious. He looked at the cave and raised his left arm across his chest. She saw the belt appear around his waist. He moved his arm to the side and raised his right arm up. "Henshin!", he cried as he brought his right hand on top of the belt. She backed up a bit as the armor materialized on him. "I'll be out as soon as I can," He said as took the staff from its holder and walked toward the cave. As he reached the mouth of the cave he turned to give her a quick salute then went on. Now she had a bad feeling about this.

He traveled through the tunnel until he came to an inner cavern. A surprisingly well lit inner cavern at that. The lights attached to the roof allowed him to see with no problem was only part of what surprised him. The cavern itself looked like a small stadium. The sides were cut to form rows of seats and steps. At the bottom was a group of six men. Jack looked around to see if there was anybody else as he went down the stairs. Five of the men changed shape and surrounded the dark haired guy who didn't change. If they weren't going to attack now neither was he. "I'm guessing you're the top dog."

"In a matter of speaking," he said as he walked past the others. "I thought you be taller."

"Yeah I get that, so how is this going down? You gonna talk or are your boys and me going to go at it?"

"I'd rather have done this by myself but my guards wouldn't be talked out of it. We don't have to fight you know. We can work this out peacefully."

This might be easier than he thought it would. It couldn't last. "I have an option to bring you in alive if I can. You and me can walk out of here and head to World Inc. right here and now. There wouldn't have to be any more bloodshed."

The rebel leader sighed, sounding very tired. "I know Anderson a little too well. That wouldn't be a bloodless option." Jack had to agree with him on that one. If Dave and Terry were any indication of the situation. "You can always walk away with us and join our cause." Jack slowly shook his head at the offer. "And neither of us can walk away. I'm afraid there's only one way this can end." He changed to a dark green tiger with light green stripes. His mind flashed to the female tiger the other night. Looks like the vulture might have been right after all. No matter, that was then this is now.

"I guess so," he snapped the staff to extend it to its full length. Jack held the staff up and waited for them to make the first move. Neither side had to wait long as two of leader's guards, a blue lizard and a red hammerhead shark, broke rank and charged him. Jack ran at them bringing the staff up to attack in return. At that moment one of the last things his Uncle told him echoed in his head.

If you know you're going down make damn sure you take a couple of them down with you.


	15. Chapter 15

Episode 15

Jack ducked a punch from the hammerhead and cracked the lizard in the head with the staff. The rebel leader and the others ran in to help these two. He jumped over a red lion with a scar on its chest as it tried to grab him. When he landed Jack kicked the leader in the chest, turned and rammed the end of the staff into the lion's gut. Jack tried to drive it through the things as he use the Drakan to knock down the hammerhead. A red fish of some sort hit him with a straight right that he felt through the helmet. He spun around and took a home run swing with the staff into the fish's side. The hammerhead grabbed the staff suddenly as the tiger planted its shin into his gut. Jack went down to a knee as the hammerhead let go of the staff to come in to kick him in the head.

He tried to get off his knees but something pushed him pack down and tried to keep him there. Pushing up just enough to turn over he let a fist fly. A blue mantis's mandibles went wide as it cried out in pain, he guessed it was a guy. Rocking up then back he kicked it where its spine should have been to knock it foreword. Jack reached for the staff but the lizard shot out its tongue at the staff and flung it away. "Son of a ...," Jack muttered as he backed up to get some room between them. The Drakan regrouped as well and tried to circle him. Looking quickly he saw that the staff didn't land that far away, it was just a matter of getting to it. Easier said than done.

Trying an old trick that worked for him back in high school he made a move toward the leader. The shark and mantis moved to protect him. Jack stopped and changed direction and bowled over the lizard. He rolled off and went for the staff before the lion tackled him to the ground. A red furry hand hauled him up while the claws on the other slashed at the back of his neck. He kicked a foot back that the lion caught and flipped him around and knocked him down. The fish jumped over the lion and stomped a foot into his chest. The armor barely held up, but it still hurt like hell. Both of them picked him up by the arms and held him in place as the mantis jumped up and aimed a kick at him. For a brief moment he was back in the nightmare and freaked. "NO!", He flung the lion in front of him to take the kick. With his right arm free he started raining punches at the fish's head. The tiger leaped up and kneed him in the chest. It roared as it raised a clawed hand over its head.

Jack fell back and put his foot to its stomach to flip it over. He barely ducked a kick by the fish. He got up quickly and elbowed it in the back of the head. A roar caused him to turn and see the hammerhead come at him. Jack picked it up over his head and slammed the thing to the ground. The tiger kicked him square in the back the forced him into a palm strike to the chest by the lion. Then both of them grabbed him and threw him over the rest of the group. He landed and saw stars that cleared to reveal a blue insect foot coming right at him. Jack grabbed the foot to deflect the blow. The mantis guarded itself to protect its lower region from another punch. Jack got to a knee and did throw a punch, right at its knee. The crack was audible as the leg bent backwards and it went down screaming. He didn't have a moment to breathe as the fish jumped on top of him and started pounding away.

Rachel paced back in forth in front of the car and motorcycle outside of the cave. Several times she almost went inside to see what was happening but stopped. Jack asked her to stay outside for this assignment and she said she would. What could she really do to help him out in there any way? It was him against who knew how many in there. But she was also his mission operator. She promised herself that she would personally keep track of every assignment he would be assigned to. So she wandered close to the mouth of the cave to see if she could hear anything. There was a scream that she didn't think was human. Or at least that's what she told herself.

"The hell with it," she reached into a pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Maybe Mitchell had an assault team near by and they could get here before it was too late. There was no chance in hell of that happening of course and she knew it, but she didn't want to admit it. She should have insisted that a team went with them on this one. Rachel was about to press send when she heard a noise. It didn't come from the cave. In fact it sounded like a few cars coming to a stop. She didn't have to travel far before she saw a couple of vans that the assault team used and Mitchell was motioning for his men to fall in. She was glad to see them, but why were they here? Nobody told her they were part of the plan.

Jack battled his way to his feet as the meter started flashing. The lion threw a punch at him that he barely saw coming. He grabbed it and flipped it over his shoulder, then his hand went to the right pod and twisted it up He blocked a kick from the lizard as the charge went up his side and down his right arm. Jack aimed the fist at the center of the thing's chest and nailed it. In the biggest stroke of luck he ever had it crashed into the fish and exploded. The fish fell backwards smoking and it wasn't moving. The other looked at their fallen comrades, he took that moment they gave him to grab a quick couple of breathes. The tiger balled up a fist then screamed in anger and charged. Jack kicked out on instinct that snapped its head back.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the hammerhead come at him with his staff in its head. The lion grabbed him from behind and pinned his arms back. Jack dropped to his knees to force the lion to lean over. The hammerhead couldn't stop as it cracked the staff on top of the other one's head. He got out from under it and grabbed the staff. Hoping they hadn't heard about this one he twisted it to collapse to its original size. The hammerhead looked down in surprise as he kicked it in the gut to make it let go. Jack backed up as he snapped it back to its full length. He remembered a few fights back in high school were he was outnumbered for some reason. He never won any of those, something in his brain must have trying to tell him something.

The lion growled, "The stories said you were a demon."

Oh yeah, some demon. His head was pounding. His body was aching like he couldn't believe. Most of his muscles were just this side of feeling like Jell-O. And if it wasn't for his reconstructed legs he doubted he'd even be standing right now. Jack took a deep breath and cracked his neck. "Bring it kitty cat." Why in the hell did he say that? The tiger and the lion came at him. Well, Mom always said his mouth would get him in trouble.

Melissa tried to keep her mind off the fact Chris was fighting the Drakan Killer. She did plan to be out there with the others. If she looked confident of his victory then they should feel it too. That was the plan and she tried to make it work like Chris could. But he could do it and look like he wasn't even trying, something she never mastered. So she ended up in Emily's room. The old lady was sitting at her table nursing a tired looking plant. She looked so calm at the moment Melissa actually envied her. She knew deep down she was asking the impossible but she asked it anyway, "Are you sure you don't know what's happening?"

"My gift provides me with glimpses of what might happen," she answered. Then she looked at her over her glasses. "Not once have they provided me the opportunity to do play by play," she said with a smile and a small chuckle.

She sat down feeling the frustration, "I must look like an idiot."

"You look like someone who is worried about her brother. Even if you are conflicted about it," she added softly.

"That noticeable huh?"

"Very, but some what understandable. Your brother has to kill the man who saved your life." She picked up a pitcher and poured some water into the pot. "But the man didn't earn the name 'Drakan Killer' because he was nice to us. I'd imagine that's why you set up that little surprise without Christopher knowing." Nothing seemed to get past her.

"You 'saw' that I'd imagine." Out of habit Melissa made sure the cane was out of her reach. She and Chris were bopped with it more than once growing up after such a comment

"More like I heavily suspected, and judging from you reaction I must be right."

"Like you said, the Killer got the name for a reason. Is it wrong for me to help my brother out?" she asked a little too defensively

"Normally I would say no," she sighed heavily. "You have to remember fate brought them together now for a reason. Now it's up to them to decide which path they take from here."

The hammerhead threw him over its head. Jack grabbed the staff after he landed and looked up. It came at him with its mouth wide open. He jammed the end of the staff into its mouth. The shark gagged and went backwards holding it mouth. The tiger went to check on him as the lion got between them. Jack glanced at the meter, it was close to flashing again. How long has he been getting his butt kicked here? Ok it was official he had to get out of here while he was still breathing. He turned to run but something tripped him up. Crap, he forgot about the mantis. Jack started kicking at until it let go and he scooted away. He used the staff to get to his feet and stumbled backwards.

"Christopher!", a new voice cried out.

"What?" the leader looked around. Ten more Drakan ran toward them and gathered around the tiger, facing him.

Jack fell to a knee, "Oh come on!"

"What are you doing here?", the tiger demanded.

"Your sister sent us to watch your back," a blue horse answered.

"I told her to make sure you stayed out of this."

"And she told us to make sure you stayed alive." The horse pushed it toward an opening. "Get out of here, we'll finish this thing off for good." The lion had to drag the tiger toward the opening.

Jack got to his feet again. The meter started flashing again while they were talking. An idea came to him and he only had one shot of making it work. Taking a moment to set himself he ran at the group. They stood there waiting for him. As he ran he moved his grip on the staff to the end of the staff and raised it up. He planted the other end on the ground as he reached them and jump. Jack vaulted over the group as he let go of the staff and landed on the other side. He told himself, "don't stop," over and over in his head as he twisted the pod down and ran at the leader.

Emily froze as a vision of something dark came to her. Suddenly Christopher's path became very clear. She tried to keep herself calm for Melissa's sake. The child never had the gift like she did but she could sense what others around her were feeling from time to time. It wasn't enough as she suddenly went very rigid. Tears started to form, "No."

She got up and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's all right child, it's all right. But you must be strong for the others. They are going to need you now more than ever."

The moment he jumped everything seemed to move in slow motion. The lion saw what was happening and tried to push its leader out of the way. The tiger grabbed the lion and threw it out of the way. Jack extended his right leg and the tiger stood there. It didn't even move or tried to block, it didn't even react as he came closer. His foot came into contact with the tiger's shoulder. It flew back as he landed, Jack turned to the oncoming group. He heard the explosion as he burst threw the group and kept running. He was expecting them to pile on top of him at any moment. The staff was slowly getting closer, it was now or never. He jumped for it, grabbed it as he rolled to a knee and got the staff up to block the first attack. It didn't come.

The Drakan surrounded the flaming remains, some dropped to there knees. Almost as one they looked at the ceiling and howled. Jack remembered hearing a similar howl before, back at World Inc., back when all this started. Then he was confused, now it shook him to his core and his blood went cold. He could hardly breathe, it felt like he was going to have a breakdown or something. Jack collapsed the staff and had to walk away, get as far away from here as he could. He needed to get some air, clear his head. Try to figure out what the hell he was feeling. He chanced a look back, some of the Drakan were staring at him, like they were going to attack him again. Right now he didn't care, he just wanted out of here.

"Now!", a bunch of black uniformed men burst out and took a position around the top row. Before what he was seeing could register they opened fired. The Drakan went down and they kept firing.

"No," what he was feeling started being replaced by anger, "No!". Jack raced up the steps and grabbed the closest one. He slammed him against the wall and shouted, "What are you doing?!"

"Following orders..."

He cut him off, "What orders?"

"What you don't take out we take down. No Drakan leaves alive."

"Who gave you that order?"

"Anderson did."

Jack looked back into the stone stadium. The Drakan were lying on the ground in a growing pool of blood. His grip tightened around the man's uniform. Yelling in anger he tossed the man down the steps. He stormed toward the opening he came in knocking whoever was in his path out of the way. "That son of a bitch!"

Anderson sat at his desk awaiting word from the operation. This was the main reason he regretted allowing Haily to accompany Davidson on his missions. If she stayed here and talked to him threw a link than he would have instant word of what was happening. The phone rang and he quickly picked it up, "Yes?" Mitchell was on the other end.

"Mission accomplished Mr. Anderson."

Best news he heard all day. "Excellent. What is Davidson's condition?"

"He's alive but according to my men he didn't appear happy. You might want to get out of there, I don't think I can beat him back."

"Don't worry Mitchell, I'm sure I can handle myself." He looked at a drawer on his desk, "Armstrong and I already had something built in case things get out of hand."

Rachel heard the gunshots and hurried back to the cave and went in. She wasn't sure how far she got when Jack rushed past her. "What's going on in there?" He didn't answer her, he just powered down and kept on going. "Jack, wait a minute. Did Mitchell and..."

"Not now," he finally said, there was something in his voice she never heard before. Jack looked at the staff in his hands like it was the first time he seen it. He got a disgusted look on his face and threw it down. She picked it up and saw there was a hint of a reddish liquid on one end of it. He got on his motorcycle and rode off. Rachel put the staff in an inside pocket of her coat as she got in her car and went after him. A quick glance in her rear view mirror showed several assault team members coming out of the cave. What happened in there?

What ever happened in there Jack was taking it pretty heavily. She was barely keeping him in sight on the road. Before long she realized where he was heading, back to World. Inc. What kind of damage management was she going to have to do now? But for whom, that was the big question at the moment. Jack parked the motorcycle by the front door and went in. She parked behind him and raced too cut him off. She saw Jack had gotten to the desk before he fell to his knees and threw up. "Jack!", she went to his side. He pushed her away and got back on his feet. He looked at the secretary behind the desk.

"Where's Anderson?", he demanded angrily.

"In his office." He went off again. She tried to calm him down but he wasn't listening. Everybody they past gave them a wide birth as they passed. Actually part of her was glad he was still moving. It looked 

like if he stopped he'd fall over. She formed a quick plan in her head, let Jack say what he had to say then get him to Freidman as soon as possible right after. He saw Anderson's door and seemed to get another burst of energy.

Jack walked up and kicked the door in. "Oh man," she muttered. She looked at the door, it was hanging on by one hinge. This was coming out of something alright.

"Mr. Davidson," Anderson didn't look all that surprise to see him in this state, "I understand you are upset but...". Jack grabbed him by the shirt collar and slammed him against the wall.

"Jack put him..."

"Shut up!", he shouted before returning his attention back to Anderson. "What kind of man are you!? What kind of man would organize that kind of massacre? What in the hell did they ever do to you to deserve that?"

Anderson smiled calmly, "I already told you, they wanted to live outside of what worked for centuries. I couldn't have that."

"Why does that matter to you so much?"

"It offends me."

"You're nuts."

"No, I'm saner than most people I know." His eyes went feral looking, cat like. "And I don't appreciate being hassled in this manner."

"What the hell?", Jack let go slightly, "You're one of them?" Rachel backed up for the door as he changed into a green cheetah. Anderson grinned as he grabbed Jack in return and threw him into the opposite wall. He changed back and went into a desk drawer. Jack got to his feet and put his left arm across his chest. The belt appeared around his waist and a small device appeared in Andersons' hand. Before she could warn him Jack finished the movement and shouted , "Henshin!" Anderson pressed the thing in his hands as Jack brought his hand down on top of the belt. A whistling like sound she never heard before filled the air as the armor formed. Then it faded away surprising them both. "What...?", he looked at her.

"I didn't know about this," she told him.

"Did you really think," Anderson said, "I would have a weapon designed and not have a way to counter act it in case it turned on me?"

Mitchell ran in with his gun up. "He's a Drakan," she told him, "cover him." He looked at Anderson then pointed his gun at her. "Wait, didn't you here what I said?"

Jack fell back down, "Why am I not that surprised?"

"I already knew" Mitchell said casually. "Why do you think he confides in me?"

"So what do you turn into Mitchell?", Jack said between breaths. "I'm guessing a rat." Then he turned to her with an accusing look in his eyes. "Or is that you?", he spat. He didn't actually think she could be in one, could he?

"Don't blame the girl Jack," Mitchell told him. "She didn't know, we weren't sure how well she could act. As for me I'm as human as the two of you. Well," he grinned, "as human as she is anyway. I still got all my original parts, unlike some people in the room." Jack sat there fuming.

"Now don't be crude Mitchell," Anderson said as picked up Jack by the arm and pushed toward the door. "But we do have a problem on our hands at the moment. See if Dr. Armstrong has something that could remedy part of it. I believe he was working on some kind of control unit when he was developing the Fusion system. At the time I didn't think it was necessary, but let's see if he modified it. As I recall when placed the wearing couldn't do anything without being told what to do first. I mean everything. And take her with you, I need to figure out if we can trust her like we did before this. And if not, I'll figure out what to do with her."

"I told him it was a mistake not giving you to me," Mitchell told him as he led them down a service hallway. Apparently there were some holding cells designed for Drakan prisoners under the first floor. These guys thought of everything alright. They even had Rachel here pretending to be a prisoner too. "This never would have happened if you were placed in my unit. But he wanted someone who could operate independently. It was good in theroy, I'll give him that, but they didn't have to assign you to someone to make you even more independent."

"In case you haven't noticed," Rachel told him, "he's always been like this. Even you couldn't beat it out of him."

"Not for lack of trying. I don't even know why he was picked for this project. I had guys hurt as bad as he was on that mission, one of them should have been put in. I don't know what Mitchell saw in this bastard."

"Keep talking," he mumbled. Mitchell jammed the gun into his back.

"What was that 'buddy'? I got to be honest with you, you don't look like you can put up much of a fight right now."

"That's how you like you're targets right? Get them when they can't fight back?"

"Oh get real Jack, this is a war. You kill these things all the time, so don't get on a high horse and preach to me." They reached the ground floor according to the sign. If there was a way out of this he wasn't seeing it. Rachel coughed a few times. He looked over as she opened her coat slightly, there was the staff. She pulled it out so Mitchell wouldn't notice. Then she snapped it back to extend one end. It caught Mitchell in the leg, "What are you...," was all he got out before Jack tagged him on the chin with a right. He grabbed the gun and kicked him in the gut. Whipping the gun across his face knocked him out. Rachel collapsed the staff and handed it to him.

"There's fire exit over there," she pointed out. He didn't move.

"Why are you helping me? You work for them."

"I was in the dark as much as you were. What I knew I told you."

"Yeah right."

She swore in French. "After all this time have I ever given you any reason not to trust me?" God, he wanted to say yes so bad right then she could probably taste it. But if he had to be honest with himself, there was maybe one thing he could think of, that uh she uttered when he asked her how she found him. But then there were all the apparent arguments she fought on his behalf. Rachel also went out of her way to make him feel like less of a freak. And right now, as much as he hated to admit it, they were in the same boat.

He pointed a finger in her face, "Don't make me regret this." Jack tried the door, it wouldn't budge, either stuck or locked. He backed up a few feet and rammed the door open. It lead to a side alleyway. Rachel got out and headed for the sounds of the street. He dumped the gun into a dumpster and followed her.

She peeked around the corner. "Your Uncle ever give you any tips about this?" She looked at him, "You think you can make it?", she sounded concerned.

"I'm on my sixth wind," was all he said as he checked things out. His bike was still out in front of the building. He pushed her around the corner and headed for it. Rachel was going for her car but he stopped her. "Get on the bike," she didn't argue. Quickly he started the engine and rushed off. There had to place in this city were he could hide out for awhile. He should have listened to his Uncle more when he talked about it.

"So he got away." Mitchell remained silent, but that mark on his face spoke volumes. Haily and Davidson were a little more resourceful than he thought. A pity things worked out the way they did, that could have been helpful to him in the war against what was left of the rebels. "When will your men return to base?"

"They're still securing the Arena, but they should be back within the hour. In the meantime I'll get another team together and track Jack and Rachel down. I'll have someone tell them to get on the case the moment they return."

"Let's give them a few more hours before we go after them, shall we." Mitchell wasn't sure what to say.

"I'm not sure that's wise, the longer we wait the harder they'll be to find."

"I always thought the hunt was a little more interesting if the prey had a slight edge." Mitchell didn't look convinced, but he would follow orders. "It's not like you can't locate Davidson whenever you want."

"Rachel could find away to counter act it."



"Like I said, it makes things more interesting." Mitchell nodded and left the room. It was a problem he admitted to himself. Haily might know a couple of things that could possibly hurt him, but not by much. Davidson, on the other hand, was basically a loaded weapon in a man who could be feeling like prey and if he thought he had nothing to lose it could get messy. But there was an upside to today's situation. The rebels were dealt a devastating blow. He doubted they could recover, and that could only help him in the long run. Then his thoughts turned to the late Christopher. He was a rather formidable foe over the years, he felt the need to say something. Anderson looked out the window over looking the city, his city, and sighed. There was only one thing he could say, "Farewell cousin."


	16. Chapter 16

Episode 16

When nobody heard anything from Christopher his inner circle sent somebody to check out the Arena. Word came an hour later, Christopher was dead. The news spread like wildfire soon after. People were weeping while others were cursing Anderson and the Drakan Killer. Some just wandered around with a blank look on there face or sat in stunned silence. He, on there other hand, didn't know what to feel. On one hand he couldn't stand the wanna be king. But the effect his death had wasn't helpful to the cause. Jason stayed away from the others for that reason. He didn't want to explain himself to the others no good could come from the situation.

The old woman, Emily, walked by where he was standing and looked at him. Then she stopped and studied him a little more closely. After a moment she said, "I thought you would have been pleased at the way things turned out."

"Don't try your hocus pocus crap with me old woman. I know better than to think you can see into my soul."

She actually chuckled at him. "Nobody needs a special gift to see how you felt about him. They can see it in your eyes how much you despised him."

"He obviously didn't know it, did he?", he shot back.

"Oh Christopher knew Jason, he knew. In fact he told me he was glad you were around." She smiled as he raised a questioning eyebrow. "He always felt that you and the ones like you kept him honest." She turned to leave, "He always appreciated that, even if he despised the way you did things."

"Then why did he send me on those missions then? If he despised then so much he should have found another way."

"Because those missions needed your particular skills. And he knew he would have to live with the results. If there was a way for this rebellion to complete it goals without shedding a drop of blood he would have jumped on it in a heartbeat. But like any good student of history he knew that was rarely the case and steeled himself for it."

"So as far as he was concerned I was a necessary evil then, is that what you're saying?"

"If you wish to put it that way."

"So how did he see me then?"

"As a poor soul he was condemning to hell." She stopped and turned just enough to give him another look over. "But you were already on you way there, weren't you?" With that she started walking away again. He was not going to let her talk down to him like that.

"If you two were so close why aren't you weeping like the others?"

Without stopping she said, "We all grieve in our own way. I prefer to be there for those who need me while grieving in private." She turned the corner and left him alone again. He kicked himself for letting

her get in his head like that. Jason was going to need a clear head for the next couple of days. The old man informed him that a special council meeting was going to take place soon. Something about choosing a new figure head to rally the troops around or some crap like that. Knowing his luck it would probably be another green.

* * *

The next half hour was a blur, or at least that was how it seemed to her. Rachel was in such a daze she didn't realize Jack stopped in front of their building until he got off the motorcycle. He looked at her and said, "Get to your apartment, grab what you need and meet me back here in fifteen minutes." Actually it sounded more like an order but he went in the building before she could say anything. There wasn't much she could say, they both knew this would be the first place they'd looked for them. The situation still didn't seem real to her. Anderson was a Drakan, and he'd been sending Jack after his own kind. She tried to put it out of her mind as she shoved some essentials into a bag. Part of her was surprised the black and gray motorcycle was still parked out front as she reached the ground floor. Rachel wouldn't have been surprised to see if it was gone. Jack came out a moment later with a backpack over his shoulder, looking around for any sign of trouble.

They were on the road in the next instant. She convinced him to head for this overpass in a run down part of the city. Jack wasn't sure about it until she told him the cameras didn't go that far yet. And as far as she knew it was till true. He shot her a disbelieving look back at her but he asked for directions. It was an hour ride before he parked the KR-1000 under the overpass. Jack got off, leaned against the closest pillar and slide to the ground. By the time she kneeled down next to him Jack was already out. She wasn't sure what kind of injuries he had, he could have had a concussion for all she knew. Rachel opened an eyelid, the eye reacted to the light like it should. Where was Friedman when you needed him? Right now she was hoping it was just exhaustion, he must have been running on adrenaline for the past couple of hours.

Rachel looked around seeing a market that looked pretty close. She checked her pockets looking to see how much cash she had on her. No way was she trusting a credit card at this point. She looked at Jack and checked out the surrounding area, particularly the overpass. Hopefully there was enough metal in the area to hid them for a bit. She raced over to the market and bought some sandwiches that looked edible. She also picked up some small bags of chips and a couple of cans of soda. Rachel wasn't sure how she was going to explain the aluminum foil without Jack blowing his top.

He was still sleeping when she got back so she pulled up a crate and ate her sandwich. Rachel kept some kind of guard, who else was going to at the moment. Jack startled her by gasping loudly as he woke up. She quickly went to his side, "Talk to me." He calmed down and waved her away. Jack just sat there, not really looking at anything. Like she thought his stomach started growling so she handed him the other sandwich. He grunted a thanks and quietly ate. After a few moments Jack crushed the can and threw it. The clang seemed louder than it should have been as it hit another pillar. Jack got to his feet and started pacing. "So what do we do now?"

"I don't know," he said as he ran his hands through his hair. Then he walked up to another pillar and kicked it. "He was a Drakan! The bastard was a freaking Drakan the entire time!" Then he turned to her, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I already told you I didn't know." He wasn't listening.

"And I'm still not convinced you don't turn into anything."

"Well I don't so get over it," she snapped. Oh yeah that was helping things. "Look, we can argue about this later but we got to do something."

"So what do you suggest then?"

"I don't know, maybe the rebels..."

"Oh the rebels," Jack said very sarcastically as he moved around in grand fashion, "Of course they'll help us out, why didn't I think of that? As soon as we explain that I was a pawn in all this they will surely take us in." Then he raised up a finger like he realized something, "No, wait... they're not." He got in her face and yelled, "I killed the big cheese!"

"Don't yell at me. I'm not the one who got us in this mess."

"So you're blaming me for this? So this is all my fault for not following orders like a good little bug?"

"No!", she had to walk away. This was getting them no where. "We need to think this out why we still have the time." She turned to see he was listening to her. He was staring at the motorcycle. "What is it?"

"Can they track the bike?", he asked.

"Why?", She wasn't sure were this was going. He couldn't be worried about losing his toy while being in this mess.

"It just hit me we'll have better luck not getting caught if we split up. So can they track the bike?"

Oh for crying out loud. "I don't think separating is such a good idea right now."

"Can they track the bike?", he repeated.

"Would you listen to me..."

"Yes or no," he interrupted, "can they track the bike?"

She let out a heavy breath, "No, they can not track the bike."

"See, that wasn't so hard." He got on the motorcycle and started the engine. She tried to get a word in but he revved the engine every time she opened her mouth. Jack looked at her and said, "Good luck," as he put on the helmet. It was no time before she saw him disappear from sight.

To the air she said the thing she was trying to tell him, "Because the tracker isn't in the bike."

* * *

OK, we got her," his man said. Mitchell looked through the offered binoculars. Jack just rode off and left her there. "What about Davidson?"

"Now that they're separated we can get Jack later. Right now to get her before he hooks backs up with her." He handed the binoculars back to the man and headed for the van. Mitchell pulled the device Anderson gave him out of his pocket. It looked like an oversized remote for a car alarm but it only had the one button. Anderson told him it worked on Jack earlier. He guessed he'd find out later to see if it did or not. Mitchell looked up and saw his reflection in the windshield, he'll have to pay Jack back for that mark on his face later too.

The light on his intercom went on, his appointments had arrived. Anderson got up and walked around the desk to great them as the door opened. An older man in a dark gray suit came in with a stern looking, balding man in a general's uniform. He held out a hand to both of them as he spoke, "Senator Henning, General Rhodes thank you for coming on such short notice."

"This better be good Anderson," Henning said a he took a chair. "I'm missing a... important meeting for this." The General rolled his eyes as he sat. He has the same idea as Anderson about what this "meeting" actually was. Anderson took his chair, might as well get this over with.

"We had a slight problem with one of the projects you contacted my company to work on."

"Which one," Rhodes asked.

"Who cares," Henning told him, "he didn't need to drag us here for something he could have had someone call in to our offices. Which is what this is sounding like." He got up to leave.

"It's the Fusion project," Anderson said calmly. Rhodes put a hand on the Senator shoulder to force him to sit back down.

"What happened with the project?"

"What is this project about exactly?", Henning cut in. Rhodes looked rightfully dumbfounded.

"You don't know what it is?", the General asked.

"Do you have any idea how many projects cross my desk? I can't keep track of them all."

"Quite," This was why he hated working with this particular government official. You could actually look at his record and see where he stopped caring. Why did he keep helping him get re-elected? Keeping his attention on Rhodes he continued, "To put it frankly, our test subject walked out with it."

"You just don't walk out with a military prototype, "Henning argued. Anderson just ignored him.

"You could with this one and nobody would know it," Rhodes informed him. "Is the test subject stable?"

"Physically yes, mentally... that's another story. He apparently became mentally unstable in the past couple of weeks. Seeing monster and thinking we were out to get him, things like that. Unfortunately nobody realized at the time that the person we assigned to watch him was feeding his dementia. They forced their way out of the building this afternoon."

"This could hurt us, couldn't it?", Henning asked, finally seeming to get the big picture.

"They both know it's a military prototype. That alone could lead to question that none of us want asked."

"So what do you want us to do?"

"Well General, because of the nature of the project we have our own specially trained security force. They are after them as we speak. But, I'm afraid the project worked a little too well. In case they fail I thought you might be able to assist in the capture."

"Don't you have something like the project to help you take it out?", the Senator asked. He couldn't be serious? "There has to be something here to help you take it out. Enough of the black op budget gets funneled into here." Ah, he saw it now, the Senator didn't want anything to get attached to him.

"It's not that simple Senator," Rhodes said. "There are other factors involved in this project." Henning opened his mouth to say something but Anderson spoke first.

"At the moment we're putting the project on hold until we discovered what caused this. While I firmly believe the problem is solely within the test subject, some of our scientists think it could have been a glitch in the system."

"That's one hell of a glitch," Rhodes joked.

"Yeah well, you better catch this person or there's going to be Hell to pay." Henning got up and left. Rhodes looked relieved he was gone, a feeling he shared. The mood of the room changed dramatically as Rhodes relaxed.

"I got word Christopher was taken care of, so I'm assuming the project wasn't a total loss."

"At least Davidson did the job he was made for before this happened. To be honest I should have seen this coming. He always seemed to be suspicious of everything, but I thought I could handle it."

"Well we all make mistakes," Rhodes added, "sir. So what do you want me to do in case Mitchell loses him?"

Anderson picked up a file and handed it to him. "Plan B as they say. The basic information about Haily and Davidson is in there. I'm sure you know who to hand this to in case you have to?"

"I know the perfect person and I already have a cover story. It's a little run of the mill but it'll work."

"Good, I'll leave it in your hands then."

* * *

He kept riding until he got tired again. How long was he on the road? He should have took that clock. Jack saw a diner across the way, must be his lucky day. He parked the bike, entered and put the helmet on the counter as he took a stool. He glanced around the place, it looked normal enough. A waitress walked over and handed him a worn menu. She started going over the special when she looked at him. 

"No offense honey, but you look like hell. Wait, let me guess, I should see the other guy right? If I had a dime every time I saw that."

"Lady I'm the other guy they keep talking about." She smiled sadly and poured him a cup of coffee.

"We're out of decaf, but it looks like you could use the buzz right now. I'll be in a few so you can make up you mind." The coffee tasted like mud but he survived worse, so far.

God, what a mess he was in. He doubted even his Uncle could talk his way out of a hole this deep. There was no place in the city where he could hide for long. There were so many cameras in this city a fly couldn't fart without them knowing about it. So how do the rebels hide out for so long? What was the name of the guy his Uncle said could help you get out of town? Nick, that was it. He put his face in his hands, his mom was going to kill him for even considering this. Hell, she would kill him for getting into this mess to begin with.

Jack heard a sniffing noise and a cold spot started growing in his stomach. No not here, not now. He glanced over to a guy a couple of stools over, a trucker who looked like he hadn't seen the inside of a shower for a while. A big sucker too. The trucker kept sniffing the air turning his head in Jack's direction. Jack put a hand up to cover his face and hoped he wasn't noticed. The man clapped once and made a joyous sound. Taking a chance Jack looked over at him, he was smelling his food. Jack let out the breath he was holding. He forgot about that after what happened. This whole smelling like death crap was going to make hiding that much harder. He smacked his forehead as he remembered something else, "Damn it."

By the time the waitress returned and asked, "So did you figure out what you wanted yet?", he had put some money on the counter and was half way out the door.

* * *

Rachel walked for who knows how long. The entire time she was calling Jack every name in the book in any language she could think of. Out of all the things she did for him. Out of all the battles she fought for him in the boardrooms. He had the nerve to go off and leave her alone. She expected it but she didn't think he actually do it. She hoped he choked on his idea. There were no crooks in her family, how was she supposed to know what to do in this situation. A few more choice words came to mind.

She kicked a can that was in her path, then she saw the van. One similar to the ones she saw at the cave. Rachel turned around and headed the other way. Going back to World Inc. didn't seem like an option. Because she thought Anderson wasn't going to find her all that trustworthy after what happened. She went a few feet before another van pulled up a few yards in front of her. "Oh no," she went into a side alley and went right into a construction yard. And there was another van that blocked the only exit she could see. Mitchell was leaning against the hood.

"Hey Rachel," he said with a wave. "You know Mr. Anderson is really disappointed in you. Gather round boys." His men can out from behind the van. None of them were carrying any guns. The only good thing in this situation. "The man just wanted to talk."

"That's a laugh, a man. Anderson not a man he's one of them."

Mitchell talked to his men. "See, I told you she would say Anderson was a Drakan. She tried the same thing with me earlier. I didn't believe it then and you shouldn't believe it now."

"You son of a..."

"Mr. Anderson was hoping you would come back under you own free will. I told him you wouldn't. Take her into custody boys, do try to be gentle. You know how he hates it what a prisoner gets roughed up." A few men walked toward to her. "It didn't have to be this way Rachel," he said sadly.

"Go to Hell." Another quickly growing sound could be heard in the background, another engine. How many men did they need to take her in? Then she saw what was making the noise. Jack came around the van drove right down the middle of them and right at her. Mitchell's team had to jump out of the way to avoid getting run over. He kicked one close to her as he skidded to a stop. Jack ripped off the helmet as he jumped off the KR-1000 and smashed the helmet into the head of another one. Then he dropped the helmet and raised his left arm across his chest.

* * *

"Henshin!" Jack said as he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. It scanned his body and the black body suit and the blue insect like armor formed around him. He survived the situation quickly. Ten men, well nine if you didn't count the one still on the ground, in black uniforms plus Mitchell surrounded him, waiting for somebody to make the first move. He was really sick of being outnumbered today. "All right listen up. I'm tired, I'm irritable and I'm ticked off. Not really a good combination for you guys. So why don't guys just go away and we'll do this some other day."

Mitchell walked foreword, "Not going to happen Jack. Do it just like I told you guys." What an idiot. Mitchell and his troops each pulled out a nightstick.

"That's the best you got?" Jack brought up his hands and wiggled his fingers, "Look at me I'm scared." Then they turned something on the stick and each one extended an inch and a spark flew out. "OK, that could be a problem." He took a step backwards toward the bike. Two of them came at him as he reached back and grabbed the staff. He swung and snapped one end to extend it to clock one guy in the side if the head. He repeated it to nail the other. Two down, he looked at the others, "Next."

"Not one at a time you idiots!", Mitchell yelled at them. The others rushed him. Jack swung the staff and they stopped in their tracks. They looked at each other and came in again. He kicked one in the chest as he came close enough. As that one went flying back another snuck in and jammed the nightstick into his side. He felt the electric charge go through his body. Screaming he grabbed him guy the wrist and pulled the stick away. Grabbing another one he swung them together. They fell to the ground as Jack jumped over them and rammed the staff into a group of them.

A couple of them jumped on top of him jamming their sticks into him. His anger got the best of him and he forced them off of him. He threw the staff at Rachel who had to duck to avoid getting hit. "Watch it."

"Guard yourself." Someone he recognized from the party ran at him. Jack kneeled down and hooked one arm around a leg while grabbing a handful of uniform with the other. He picked him up and slammed him to the ground. He elbowed another and felt something give. Seeing another stick come at him swatted it away and clothesline him down. Jack turned to see Mitchell right in front of him with a device in his hand. He recognized it, Anderson had the same thing to make the armor go away. "Ah hell."

"Let's see how tough you are now," he said as he pressed the button. It made the same sound as before. Jack looked at himself, the armor wasn't reacting this time. "What's with this piece of crap?", Mitchell looked at him with desperation in his eyes.

"Well," he said sounding very relived, "ain't that a kick in the nuts? Actually," he lifted his foot right between the other guys legs, "that not a bad idea." Mitchell went down crying in agony, Jack reached down and picked him up. "You know, I'm surprised you had any." He took the device from his hand and crushed it. Looking at him Jack brought him in quickly so his head would slam against the helmet. Then he ran toward the van and tossed him. Mitchell hit the top of the van at a corner. His back bent at an awkward angle as there was a crack as he screamed and fell to the ground face first. Jack walked over and used his foot to turn him over. He stared down at the man and glanced at the meter. It wasn't close to flashing, so there wasn't any temptation there. Still, it would be so easy to end it right here and now. Jack raised up his right hand and made a fist. Fear danced in Mitchell's eyes. Then he reared back and yelled. Mitchell closed his eyes as Rachel cried out for him stop. He let the fist fly as it crashed into the side of the van near the engine. He felt around until he got a handful of wires and tubing and pulled them out. Throwing it to the ground he looked at the others and held his arms wide, "Who else wants some?" Those who could didn't think twice about running, good he was still feeling the fight he had with the rebels. He powered down and got down on one knee so he could look Mitchell right in the eyes. "You wanna know the biggest difference between you in me? I don't enjoy this in any way." He got up walked to the bike and Rachel. She already collapsed the staff and was putting it back. She walked up to him as he said, "We're getting out of here."

"Why did you come back?" he grabbed her jacket and pushed her toward the bike, "Hey!"

"Less talking and more moving." They got on the bike and he took a moment to look at Mitchell. "Next time I don't hold back," he muttered and drove off.

* * *

It was hours before he received word. Taylor was telling him the basic of the reports. Most of the team he sent out was in the medical wing. Mitchell was paralyzed for the most part. But he wasn't paying attention, he was watching the television station on the wall monitor, waiting for it. Then the news came on and Rhodes was soon pictured. He put up a hand to silence Taylor as he raised the volume. Rhodes was speaking, "We are looking for these two in a case of espionage. They took some sensitive material and they might sell it to some unfriendly faction. Any help the public can provide will be greatly appreciated." Yes that was old but it would be effective.

An anchor appeared next with a picture of Haily and Davidson next to his head, "Authorities say Rachel Haily is five nine with blond hair and green eyes with no identifying marks. Jack Davidson is six two with brown hair and eyes. Most of Davidson body is covered in scars from an accident in the mountains. Davidson is to be considered armed and dangerous and shouldn't be approached. A reward is available for those who provide information leading to their capture."

Anderson lowered the volume and smiled. Yes it was true that the hunt was more exciting when your prey had the advantage. But even a hunter had to look past the excitement for the most efficient means of getting the job done. Granted this method would cause more problems and questions that were necessary. But with most of the city looking for them, they had no place to hide. It was only a matter of time before Haily and Davidson were caught and brought back here.


	17. Chapter 17

Episode 17

The rain outside made a pinging sound as it hit the old storm drain they were hiding in. Jack kept guard near the opening while Rachel sat a little further in. He kept one eye on the look out for any World Inc. troops and the other on her. Not that he thought she would try anything, but because of the way she was acting. Rachel hadn't said anything to him since he pointed this place out. He still didn't understand why she asked if this thing was made of metal. But the sad part was her knew why he was getting the silent treatment now. He didn't really treat her all that gently when he came back for her, and the whole fact he just up and left her. Jack walked over to her and sat across from her. Rachel turned to look further down into the tunnel. "Look, I'm not making any excuses..."

"That because you don't have any excuses to make," She said finally. All right he had that one coming.

"I know I overreacted... "

"Overreacted," she gave out a short laugh, "that's the understatement of the year." That one got on what was left of his nerves a bit.

"I'm trying to say I'm sorry here." And that came out sounding a little angrier than he had in mind. He was mentally kicking himself as she finally looked at him.

"You're damn right you're sorry! How could you act like that, after everything I've done for you? First you act like I was in on this the entire thime! Then you go off and leave me on my own. And then when you do come back you freaking manhandle me!" He didn't think it was manhandling exactly but he caught those words before they came out of his mouth. One thing he learned in his short life, never correct an angry woman or you'd never hear the end of it.

"You're right," was all he could say at the moment.

"You're damn right I'm right." Yeah it was going to take awhile to fix this one, if ever. They were quiet for a few more moments.

"We should head out in the morning," he said. "Unless there's a power outage because of the rain."

"The command center has a back up generator, "she told him. "And the cameras have a solar battery of R&D design that can last around eight hours."

There went that idea. "I'm guessing change over time is minimal."

"They practice the emergency drill at least once a day so they have it done to a science by now." She reached into the grocery bag she had with her and pulled out a box of aluminum foil. Again with the metal, what the hell? "Before we decide on or go anywhere there's something we need to do first."

"I don't care how kinky you are now ain't the time," he said to try to lighten the mood. She didn't look like she found it all that funny. "If you're planning to poach a rat I think I heard some down that way."

"I wish you would stay serious...", she started before stopping. "This is the best idea I had for blocking the tracker's signal."

"Wait, you said they couldn't track the bike."

Slowly she said, "And they can't"

He didn't like where this was heading. "Then where is it?"

Rachel looked a little apprehensive as she leaned in, reached behind his head and tapped a spot at the base of his skull, "Right about here."

He knocked her arm away, "Ah hell no! How long has this piece of crap been in my head?"

Rachel found something down the tunnel interesting again, "Since you were first bonded with the Fusion system."

"Son of a bitch!", Jack got up and walked away. Anything he felt about treating her the way he did quickly disappeared. Half of him wanted to get on the bike and leave her sorry butt again. That half was starting to sound like it had the right idea. "This is how you found me the other day wasn't it? You should have told me about this thing."

"Anderson said it was to be kept under need to know."

"I think I needed to know before now!"

"I should have told you but I didn't know when."

"I know, how about this, ' we can get out over there, oh and by the way...', that sounded like a good time to me."

"All right, we both made mistakes here. But this still need to be done. Now turn around and sit down." Not believing he was doing this Jack did as he was told. There was a sound of foil being ripped then she pulled his hood back. "This should fix it so they can't pinpoint our location," she said as she worked. In moments she put the hood over head. As he turned to look at her Jack could hear his hair rub against the foil.

"I hate you."

"Get over it," Rachel shot back as he got back on his feet. She put the foil back in the bag. "We might be eating those rats before long. I'm hoping somebody in your family knew how to cook over an open fire."

"What your Aunt in the bayou never cook a lizard?" Again she didn't find it funny, right know he didn't care. He pulled out an envelope and handed it to her. "We shouldn't be starving anytime soon." She opened it and her eyes went wide in surprise.

"Where did you get this?"

"Whenever I deposited a check I always kept a couple of thousand of it in cash. Just in case Anderson decided to take everything away after I got the monkey." Rachel slowly went from shocked to angry. 

Way angrier then she looked before. A moment later he realized why. "Telling you sounded a whole lot better in my head."

"You were going to go off and leave me on my own when you had this?". She slapped the envelope into his chest, "You jerk!"

"Ok , so I'm one up in the mistake department." This day keeps getting better and better. Thank God it was almost over. "Its going to be a long night, you better get some sleep while I keep watch."

"No, I'll keep watch," she said after calming down a bit, "you look like you need the sleep more than I do." He started to protest but she cut in, "And I will use this foil to gag you if I have too."

"Fine," he said as he sat back down. "Wake me up in a few hours to take over." Rachel agreed and took a spot near the opening. He tried to get comfortable, trying to decide which nightmare was worse. The one he was in now or the one he was in when he was asleep.

* * *

Anderson studied the blinking light on the telephone. There was a temptation to "accidentally" lose the call. No that wouldn't work, the man on the other end would just call back and be even more annoying. Humans could be so taxing at times. Taking a moment to calculate the distance of his closest assassin Anderson picked up the receiver, "Good morning Senator, sorry about the delay but there was a report on my desk that needed my full attention."

"Is that right," Henning said. "Would today's paper be part of that so called report?"

Anderson glanced down at his desk at said paper. Haily and Davidson picture was featured on the front page. "Not particularly. Why do you ask, was there something in there you found interesting?"

"Is this your idea of handling it?!", Henning yelled. "I thought the project was classified, why are you announcing it all over the news?"

"They were only told about Haily and Davidson." He hated explaining himself to the humans. It was almost as bad as a blue questioning his decision, if not worse. "Nothing of the project was mentioned."

"Unless they spill it. God what a mess you put us in." This from a man who was unfamiliar with the project to begin with. It was almost humorous.

"We've taken precaution in case the local authorities apprehend them before we do." Which might be the case since they lost Davidson's signal hours ago. Williams had her people going over the system in case it was a glitch. But he thought Mitchell assumption was correct and Haily had found a way to block it.

"You know what?", Henning continued, "I don't care. I'm going to launch a full investigation into your company for allowing this to happen." Anderson did laugh out loud this time. "Do you think this is funny Anderson?" It was time to put this human in his place.

"I don't think you will be doing that Senator."

"Don't think Rhodes will go against me on this."

"How did you win reelection last time Senator?", he asked idly

He was apparently thrown by the change of subject, "I don't see what this has to do with anything."

"Oh yes I remember now, the person projected to beat you by a very wide margin dropped out of the race suddenly. A particularly nasty drug habit I believe."

"What are you getting at?"

He allowed himself a small smile, "Who do you think found and released that information?"

"You...", Henning sputtered.

"Not me personally, I have very thorough people working for me. People who will stop at nothing until they find something. No matter how small it may be. Then I also have a group under me who will take that information and spin it into something as large as possible. Although I must admit I love seeing the product of their work after they're done. It's as close to being little masterpieces as one can get."

"Are you threatening me Anderson?"

"Of course not Senator. All I'm saying is that if any investigation is launched at my company, by anybody, the world will find out how you like to be tied up by your mistress and whipped."

"I do not..."

"You will after I'm done with you, "he said coolly. "Even I am surprised at how convincing the evidence they create can be. I'm sure your wife, whose is the sole name on the deed to the house and cars you own, will find it convincing as well. So I suggest you be a good little Senator and leave this alone." He hung up before Henning could respond. While it was useful to have same man in charge of the budget committee Henning was becoming a problem. Perhaps it was time to cut ties and support someone else. Taylor walked in a few minutes later going over the report in his hand. Best to get this out of the way now before anything else was discussed. "Contact Rhodes and see who else is in Henning's committee. I want to know everything about them.

"Of course sir," Taylor said as he put the report down on his desk.

"So what went wrong yesterday?"

"During the interviews I discovered two flaws in the assault team plan to capture them." He stood there not saying anything else. Times like this he missed how Allen would get to the point without being asked. He almost thought Taylor felt he was in control of the situation this way.

Anderson sighed loudly, just for effect. A small sign to tell him otherwise. "What were they?"

"They overestimated their ability to take down Davidson."

"That much was obvious Mr. Taylor."

"Yes sir," he agreed. "The second was Mitchell use of the system disrupter. He apparently used it after Davidson powered up sir." Anderson suspected as much. He told Mitchell it was designed to disrupt the activation sequence. "Dr. Armstrong says he can have another one ready in no time."

He was going to dismiss him but he thought the information over. "I must admit what Mitchell tried intrigues me. Have Armstrong look into it." Taylor nodded in response. He doubted Armstrong would be all that pleased with the request. R&D was already working on several ideas to counter the Fusion system. But depending on the prey, it was nice to have options.

* * *

That morning had been a rough one. When she woke Jack up for his shift at guard duty he went to run his hand through his hair. Rachel had to remind about the tracker in his head. He grumbled something as he got up took her spot by the opening. She went to sleep rather quickly but it seemed like no time before he was jostling her awake, "What?"

"Time to move," he told her. Rachel looked outside, it was daylight. She was expecting crack of dawn, but she was grateful for the couple of extra hours of sleep. But she was also surprised he was still there.

"Any idea on what we do now?"

"I think I know a place we can hide out for a while, for a couple of days at least. I'm assuming there are cameras located at the ways in and out of the city."

She shrugged, "Possibly, I never thought to find out. It never seemed that important."

"I think it be better if we played it paranoid and assume they do."

"Ok then what do we do?"

He looked a little disgusted before he spoke. "My Uncle knew a guy that specialized in getting things and people out of the town without being noticed. I'll try to track him down and see if he could help us. It's gonna cost us a bit though."

Rubbing the back of her neck she said, "I can't believe this is sounding like a good idea." She looked at him in disbelief, "And you grew up with this stuff?"

"Mom made sure it stayed out of the house as much as possible. But I saw it enough to recognize it when I see it."

Now she had to know, "Is that what happened with Anderson? Is that why you didn't trust him?"

He sighed, "That was part of it, but I also distrust rich people, so it was kind of a double whammy." He looked outside before speaking again, "We better get going, it's gonna be a tricky couple of days." Jack walked the KR-1000 out of the tunnel and waited until she got on before starting the engine. Almost at once she wished he didn't leave the helmet behind yesterday as she kept a hand on top of the hood to keep it from flying off. After a few miles he pulled into a gas station saying he wanted to be sure he had 

a full tank, just in case. They stood on either side of the motorcycle not looking at each other. They might have been getting along a bit ago but there was still some animosity there. She looked around to take her minds off thing when she noticed something strange.

"Why is everybody looking at us?", she wondered out loud.

"Maybe they're wonder how I got stuck with you," he said.

"Jackass," she muttered. Then she heard him smack himself, hopefully in the head. Good, she wished she did it first. How much longer was he going to act like this? More importantly how much longer was she going to be stuck with him? After another moment he started tugging on her jacket. "Would you quit it."

"You might want to see this," Jack told her.

"What is it?, she snapped as she turned to see what was so important. He was pointing to something behind him, looking a little panicked. Rachel wasn't sure what she was supposed to be looking at until she saw the newspaper machines. Their pictures were on each and every one of them. She held on to the motorcycle to keep from falling over. She uttered one word in French, "Merde."

"My thoughts exactly," he said as he pulled the nozzle out of the gas tank.

"People are on there phones, what do we do?"

"I say we add stealing gas to whatever they're saying about us." They jumped on the KR-1000 and Jack got them out of there quick. She spotted a police car coming at them from the other direction. Jack saw it before she could point it out and yelled, "Lean with it!", right before taking a hard right into an alley. Rachel held on for dear life as he drove around the things and people n the alley at high speeds. After exiting the alley and almost getting blindsided by a truck Rachel closed her eyes and just leaned in whatever direction it felt like they were going. To think she called him a madman after he first got this thing. Suddenly they came to a stop. She opened an eye, they were in another alley.

"Is giving them a chance to block us in that good of an idea?"

"Would you rather I've lead them to the place I was telling you about?"

"I guess not," Rachel answered as she got off the motorcycle. "I haven't exactly been on the run before, I'm a little new at this."

"Not like I have a whole lot of experience at this either," he shot back. Jack closed his eyes and looked like he was trying to calm down. "Besides I figured we could use a moment or two to catch our breath. Well I could any way," he started rubbing his chest, about were Rachel was holding on. "Damn you got a death grip."

Rachel smile despite the situation, "I like to stay breathing, what can I say." He returned the smile. "So how far away is this place?"

"Not far, a few blocks I think. I'm going to need to see some street signs to know for sure."

She really didn't want to know the answer to this thought she just had, but she had to know. "I'm assuming our faces being on the front page of the papers might affect us getting out of town."

"Price might get jacked up." She stated getting a headache thinking about all of this. It was hard to believe that yesterday morning their biggest problem was were to sit in the cafeteria.

* * *

She walked the halls trying to avoid the others. But they found her anyway to offer their condolences. Was it possible to get sick of people saying they were sorry for her loss? Melissa was positive she reached that point a long time ago. Besides she had other things on her mind that she wanted to think about. Alone, if that was at all possible. She turned a corner that lead to the outside and ran into Emily and a small blond child. "Is something wrong?"

Nothing to concern yourself about, Emily told her. "Samantha here needed help looking for her ball. She thought I could help her look for it. How did you put it little one, people said I had a knack for finding things?"

"And it was right were she said it was," the girl beamed. Melissa smiled back even though she didn't want to.

"That's good, now you better get going before your parents start getting worried." She hugged the ball and ran off. "I wish I was that young again," she said out loud.

"I think just about everyone wish they could be today," Emily replied. "You know I have always marveled at the way children can bounce back from most things."

"You didn't really use you 'knack' to find that ball did you?"

"If I wanted to young one, but sometimes you need to know the right questions to ask." Emily studied her for a moment, "Is there something wrong Melissa?"

"I just needed some air." It wasn't a total lie. Not that the woman before her ever believed them to begin with.

"I wouldn't, it's going to rain soon." Melissa gave her a quizzical look. "My shoulder always aches when it's about to rain. And my shoulder is never wrong," she gave her a sly smile. "So what is wrong?"

"The special council meeting that's coming up. Part of me is afraid they're going to pick me."

"Oh," she replied with mild surprise, "why would you think that? Did you get a feeling off one of them?"

"Chris warned me once that if anything happened to him then I'd be put in charge in order to gain sympathy."

"Warned?", it was strange to see her looking uncertain. "I'm not sure I understand."

"I'd just be a figure head, very little actual power, if any. Not that I want to be put in that position, but I don't want to be used like that either. But I'm not a leader either, not like Chris was." Emily put a hand on her shoulder.

"No offense child, but Christopher wasn't that leader either, at least not at first. He slowly grew into the role. Him being right more than he was wrong helped his confidence a lot during those early times, and helped the other gain confidence in him." She sat down on a nearby barrel. "It's just too bad that aura of that role grew faster than he did into it."

"I noticed, there were times I had to force him to step back for a few moments here and there. There are times I think the position would have killed him sooner or later."

The old woman nodded, "If Christopher had one failing is that he thought he had to live up to his own legend. If the Killer didn't kill him something else would have. If you are granted that position make sure you learn from his mistake. I don't think I can stand losing the two of you."

"I don't think either have much to worry about. I mean what are the odds that would really happen?" Emily grunted before she got up and walked off saying nothing more. Melissa hated it when she did that. It meant she knew or 'saw' something and wasn't letting on what it was.

* * *

Waiting until it started getting dark and with the hood as far over his head as it would go Jack checked out the street. The first thing he noticed was that they were closer to the hide out than he thought. They should probably head there as soon as he got back. They cops haven't found them yet and that alley felt a little too open for his taste. With that out of the way he started he started a search for a newsstand. More than likely not the smartest move he could make at the moment, but he had to know what they were saying about him and Rachel. Besides he could use a good piece of fiction right now. He found a machine quickly enough and bought one. Reading it on the way back he tried to keep his reaction to minimum, trying to avoid attracting any attention. When he finally got back to Rachel he told her, "They said I'm crazy." Then he noticed the three guys in black leather who had her surrounded. One had his hand around covering her mouth. "Why me?", he muttered. "Let her go," he said to them hoping he sounded a bit convincing.

The skinny one with the beard and a chain around his neck said, "He's smells like Drakan blood too."

Jack looked up and held his arms wide, "Seriously why me?"

The one with a scar over his right eye, who had Rachel up against the wall, pointed at the paper in his hands. "I told ya she looked familiar. These punks are the one they're looking for." Those two started counting the money from the look of it. The third, a fat bald guy with a dragon tattoo on his head just stared at him

"Smell the death on this one boys, I'd betcha this chump the Drakan Killer." The other two started looking scared. In fact scar let go of Rachel. Now if only the third one looked that way. "Imagine the respect when the red and greens found out us blues took him out."

"Rather have the money," scar said.

"They say anything about him being dead or alive? Either way we turn her in for the reward and word gets out that we took out the Killer." The dragon tattoo stated and his gut looked like it was getting bigger as he changed into a blue hippo. "Remind me to keep something to prove I did it. And make sure she don't go any where" Jack dropped the paper as he raised his left arm up across his chest. The belt appeared and he swung it to the side and raised his right arm.

"Henshin!", he slammed his right hand on top of the belt and the armor covered him. Jack ran in and planted his foot in the Drakan stomach. It bent over and backed up, then it looked at him and smiled. "Ah crap," he said as he ducked a right cross and punched it between the eyes. The Drakan put its hands up to cover its face, Jack came in and it kicked its leg out. He got hit in the chest and flew back. The hippo put his hands down and smiled at him again.

"I thought you were supposed to be tough chump." It looked at the others, who stayed in their human form. "You could take this guy Tony", it said to the bearded one, who gave it the finger. Jack got to his feet and ran at the Drakan again. The hippo patted its stomach, daring him to do it again. But he jumped and flipped over the Drakan and kicked it in the back as he landed. It stumbled foreword and tried to turn around. Jack hit a right cross of his own that kept it staggering. He tried punching it down but the hippo would only go down to a knee. Backing up a bit he kicked it in the head. As its head snapped around it's leg swung out catching him by surprise and behind the knees. He landed on his back and tried to get up before the hippo did, no such luck. It dragged him up by the arm and slammed him into the wall. Then it slammed him face first in the other wall. The hippo repeated the move a few more times before letting him drop. The Drakan wiped something off his mouth, "Tougher than I thought you'd be. Tony!," it yelled while holding out a hand. The bearded guy threw the chain at the hippo.

Jack rolled out of the way as an end of it was whipped at him. He was forced to roll a few more times before he could get up to a knee. He got an arm up and the chain wrapped around his forearm. The hippo started to pull it but he moved first, hitting a quick jump kick under its chin. He glanced at the bike, thinking about getting the staff. That moment gave the Drakan the chance to clock him in the back of head. Jack lashed back with a backhand that luckily found its jaw. That gave him time to get rid of the stars he was seeing. Now if only that damn ringing would go away. Jack turned and snapped its head back with and uppercut. Then he saw scar pull out a knife and take a step toward Rachel. The hippo saw that he was distracted and wrapped the chain around his neck and pulled it tight. Jack grabbed at the chain but it kept getting tighter. The Drakan kicked him behind the knee to force him down. It was getting harder and harder to breath, despite little protection the body suit gave him. The meter started flashing, he hoped he wasn't imagining it as he twisted the right pod down. The mini turbines started spinning as he reached behind his head and grabbed the chain. Jack tried to pull the chain open while the hippo pulled it tighter. It seemed like forever but the chain finally snapped. Not even thinking twice he kicked his right foot back. The foot hit its stomach and the hippo flew back into some garbage cans and exploded.

Jack grabbed a length of the chain that was left and slowly got to his feet. He looked at the other two and waved them on. They looked at each other, turned and ran out of there. He dropped back to his knees and held his neck. "Bout time that Killer crap started working for me." Jack hit the belt again to power down the system and looked at Rachel," They do anything to you?"

It took a few moments but she said, "They found me right before you got back." He was surprised he felt relived that she was all right. It not like he shouldn't be feeling nothing, but still. But that was too close this time, no doubt about it.

"We better get out of here in case they have friends nearby, or decide to call the cops."

* * *

Anderson walked the hall of the medical section with Taylor and Armstrong in tow. The head of R&D talked the entire way while he listened. When they arrived at the door he was heading for he looked at him, "Are you what you are saying is even possible?"

Armstrong looked a little hurt, "Have I ever told you anything that wasn't?"

"Excuse my doubts Dr. Armstrong, but it was six months before you said Davidson was ready."

"I know, but we also had to rebuild his left arm and both of his legs from what was left after his accident. Granted spine injuries are always a little tricky, but I'm comfortable we can get it done in a fraction of the time. This is the Mark 2 I'm talking about here sir. It's one of the improvements we've made from Jack's design."

"I'll need to think it over," he told them. "Stay out here, I wish to talk to him in private." He had already made up his mind by the time he entered the room. Mitchell was there in the darkened laying in the bed. He glanced at him briefly before returning his gaze to the ceiling. Anderson had the sudden urge to say don't get up. Obviously Davidson influence, he'll be glad when it was gone. Anderson walked up to the bed and clasped his hands behind his back. "Mitchell, I have a proposition for you."


	18. Chapter 18

Episode 18

"We got a slight problem," Jack said as soon as he saw Rachel. He was surprised to see her outside the warehouse they were hiding out at. Well, it wasn't much of a warehouse, it hasn't been used for as long as he could remember. He only knew about because his Uncle would hide out here every so often, usually after a hot "job". He was surprised that when his Uncle showed it too him it had a couple of escape routes built in, one were his bike was quietly resting. That amazed him when his Uncle showed him the place when he was younger. He couldn't blame Rachel for standing outside though. They both had been cooped up in the place for the last two days. Actually he wasn't to sure how much longer they could stay there and not get caught.

Rachel, who was having her own doubts about the place, sighed and started rubbing her forehead, "Do I even want to know?"

"Nick won't help."

"I knew I didn't want to know," she started rubbing with both hands now. "And why won't he help?

"Well, seeing how we're not only wanted by the police but the Army and the US government we are officially too hot to handle. He said he was doing me a favor by forgetting he saw me." He went to rub the back of his head but stopped, he was suddenly worried about moving the hood and foil. So he started scratching the beard that was growing instead. He really, really hated having to think about stuff like this now.

"Not to mention World Inc., the rebels and any Drakan not involved in this conflict we come across. I'm assuming you didn't tell him about that part."

"What sane person would believe it without proof? Guess I could have powered up." Then he added when it looked like she was going to say something, "I'm joking."

"I don't see how you can." She looked at the night sky before asking, "You sure we can trust him to keep his word?"

"Out of all the guys my Uncle hung around with he was the one I trusted the most. Hell, I think I trusted him more than my own Uncle."

"I'm sorry, but I have to meet this Uncle of yours one of these days."

"Well if we're caught maybe we'll be lucky enough to get sent to the same prison. I'll make the introductions." She tried not to smile, but there was a small one playing on her lips. Things were still messed up between them but they were getting better. But he doubted things would be the way they were before this crap started. "We better get back and figure out what we're going to do now."

She nodded s they walked off. A sound caught their attention, somebody seeing him on the street was the first thought racing through his head. But it wasn't, two guys had apparently grabbed a woman off the streets. His guts were twisting on the inside, he wanted to help but... . Jack was trying to force himself to turn around and try to live with it, hope... pray this wasn't added to the nightmare. Then he got a good look at the woman, forgot everything he was just thinking and ran at them. "Let her go!," he 

shouted and threw a right hook as the closest one turned around, not holding anything back. The first guy spun completely around before falling to the ground. The second guy let the woman go and tried to run. "No you don't you son of a bitch!", he grabbed him and threw him further into the alley.

Jack waved him on, the guy tried to run past him. He caught the bastard and threw him into a wall. Holding him to the wall with his left hand Jack stated wailing away with his right, again holding nothing back. A one sixty two fastball finally made him stop. Jack look at the guys face, his nose was bent to one side among other things, and let him drop. He grabbed some newspaper and tried wiping the blood off the glove and made sure the hood was still in place. The last thing he needed was to give Anderson a clear signal from this damn chip in his head. He caught the woman trying to look at him out of the corner of his eye. He turned away and deepened his voice, "Get out of here."

"What... who...," she sputtered. This was tearing him up inside.

"Get out of here!", he snapped. God he hated talking to her that way.

"But I wanted...," Jack didn't stay to listen, he just walked off praying she wouldn't follow. He saw Rachel looking at him dumbfounded. This was going to be a tough on to explain. "Wait," the woman said, "that's the girl they're looking for." He could feel her staring at the back of his head. Please not here, not like this. "Jack?", she put a hand on his shoulder and said a little more urgently, "Jack?"

He just looked straight ahead. Lie to her you moron, he told himself. Don't get her involved in this. Uncle Pete already screwed her life up as it is. Tell her Jack who. I don't know what you're talking about. Yell at her to go away. Break her heart damn it, something to get her away from here. Tears started to form in his eyes as she reached for his chin to make him face her. Jack grabbed the hand and felt it trembling. He closed his eyes, he couldn't to this, not to her. He finally looked at her and she put a hand to her mouth, looking like she just saw a ghost. God why was it so hard to speak. "Hey Mom."

Was he trying to drive her crazy? All right she could see trying to help the poor woman. But going ballistic like that and then letting her get a good look at him. What in the hell was he thinking? Jack looked at her then said something to the woman. Whoever this woman was nodded, said something to him and headed back toward the street. Jack put his hands in his pockets and walked toward her. "Are you trying to get us caught?", she asked but he kept on walking. "I'm talking to you."

"I'll explain it later."

"How about you explain it now. How could you take a stupid risk like that?"

"Stupid risk?" He turned to her and snapped, "Fine when it's your mother getting dragged into an alley I'll just keep on walking!"

"Wait... what?"

"That was my Mom Rachel, what was I supposed to do?"

"Your Mom," she was dumbstruck as he turned around. "But Mr. Anderson said his people couldn't find her." Jack stopped in his tracks, turning just enough to look at her.

"Ok, now we gotta talk."

* * *

The hour was getting late and quite a few of his personnel had already left for the evening. There was some paperwork on his desk that needed his signature that he was taking his time with. A rival CEO in his city had invited him to a banquet to support whatever needy cause was trendy this month. He should probably finish this up and go. Anderson had already blew off the last two he was invited to and he had to keep up appearances. Even if being in a room with that many humans made him nauseous. The way these inferior being pretended to be superior to everything else. Davidson had no idea of the favor he did for him by making his armor blue, not that he would ever understand it.

A knock at his door caught his attention and Taylor walked in. Well it would distract him from the papers on his desk for a few moments. At the very least it would allow him to be fashionably late for the banquet. "What is it Mr. Taylor?"

"I realize it's late sir but Dr. Armstrong called me last minute. The hand scanners are ready for field use." Anderson just nodded in response. The scanners were designed to pick up Davidson tracking signal at relatively close range by using a tighter and stronger beam. He made a mental note to have some attached to the cameras on the outside. A more cost effective way of searching for them other than having several of his men out there on foot. "He says the maximum range is about twenty feet."

"Hmm, I was hoping for a greater range but that will have to do for now. Is there anything else?"

"Yes sir there is," he said as he put some folders on his desk. "Like you asked I talked to Mitchell and we narrowed the candidates for the task force leadership, temporarily of course, down to three. All we need is you final approval."

"Fine I'll look these over in the morning," he picked one up and skimmed through it. He wanted Mitchell's personal opinion on these men before promoting any of them. Not that he didn't trust Taylor opinion on the matter but Mitchell did train these men. It better be early in the morning, Mitchell was scheduled to go into the mark two program soon.

"We wouldn't have to do this if Mitchell selected a new second in command," Taylor commented. Anderson said nothing for a moment. They lost the previous second in the same conflict that delivered Davidson to them. He suspected that Mitchell held the fact Davidson survived and was bonded to the Fusion system over his own men against him.

"Perhaps," Anderson told him, "but few had the experience and qualifications he did. If he was in better shape when they found him I might have considered him for the program."

"Hmm," his VP uttered. "Can I ask you something that has been bothering me?" Anderson leaned back in his chair and told him to continue. "Why did you pick Davidson for the Fusion program? I've gone over the reports of the incident and the medical resources I have access to and I can't figure it out. Several of our men where qualified for the program. So what made him so special?"

"To be honest with you, I don't really know. And I have asked myself that same question every so often since the decision was made. We had several men in the program's prep stage. Several men who were 

very loyal and very dedicated I might add. But when I saw Davidson's mangled form floating there in that tube next to the others, something told me he was the one to greenlight. I very rarely listen to my gut, as they say, but when I do it is rarely wrong. And up until recently he did not disappoint."

"And you never thought this would happen?"

"I knew it was in the realm of possibilities. I also know we can handle the situation." He turned his chair around and looked out the window at the night skyline. "I just wish I had the foresight to greenlight another one at the time." As he sat there an idea came to him. There were a few still in the mark one prep stage. Surly one of them could be used. The person wouldn't even have to beat Davidson, just keep him busy and dispose of the occasional rebel until Mitchell was ready. "Mr. Taylor," he swung his chair back around, "have someone bring me the files on those who survived the incident. I want the information no later than two tomorrow." Instead of complying Taylor looked confused. "Is there something in that order you did not understand?"

"Excuse me sir, but you only greenlighted Davidson?"

"I believe that is what I said."

"Then why was I recently handed a file on another one greenlighted into the program at about the same time."

"Another one?", Anderson went back in his memories to when he gave the order. He personally gave the word on the spot, he pointed right at Davidson. There was no way another could have been greenlighted with out his say so. Allen, it had to be him. His files indicated he had everything to take over the company but not this. A back up plan perhaps, in case something went wrong or not fast enough. Perhaps something to personally take him out, that would be his style. Still somebody else had to know about this if Taylor was given a case file. "Is Armstrong still in the building?"

"I believe so."

"Get him up here. And bring me that file." He wanted answers and he wanted them now. Looks like he was missing that banquet after all.

* * *

Rachel sat on one of the cots they found while Jack took in what she just told him. "You told him to look for my Mom?", Jack demanded. Oh yeah, he was reacting just like she thought he would.

"I asked him to look her so you could talk to her," she explained. She was halfway expecting him to cut her off at some point. "I was trying to make things a little easier for you. But like I said Anderson kept telling me they couldn't find any info on her."

"I'm pretty sure they did," he sat in a folding chair by the ratty old card table that was set up. "That first assignment they sent me on, the safe house and the elephant. The same one with the trap that damn monkey set for me. That was in my Mom's old neighborhood."

"Please tell me you're kidding."

"I know it's more than likely some weird coincidence, but it always seemed a bit strange to me."

"Jack I didn't think...", she was at a lose for words, "I mean I never believed..." She couldn't believe she handed Anderson a string to control Jack like a puppet with.

"I know it's not your fault," he said. Too bad she knew him well enough to know that a small part probably did. "We were both getting jerked around, " he gave her a sly grin, "and not in the good way either."

She got the implied meaning, "Did you have to go to the gutter for that one?"

"Yes I did," he answered matter of factly.

"Why for God sakes?"

"I'm a guy."

Before she could say anything a knock at the door made her jump. It was strange though, two knock, then four and the three. Jack got up and went to the door and knocked once then three times then he put a hand on the doorknob. She quickly figured out who was on the other side, "You didn't tell her where to find us?"

"Yell at me later," he muttered before opening the door. For some reason he looked down and said, "Oh no, Rufus," before backing up and letting his mother in. Rachel got a better look at her now, she had the same dark hair Jack did but her eyes were blue. She came in with a pet Taxi that she quietly put on the table. Jack just stared at the case as he closed the door. Nobody said anything for a while before he said, "Really want to make sure it's me don't you?

"I can't think of a better test," she said as she open the taxi and a brown tabby cat walked out surveying the area. It saw Rachel as she check it out and started rubbing against her arm. She scratched it behind the ear and it started purring up a storm. Jack's Mom looked at him and said, "Well?"

He sighed, "Make sure the cat doesn't runaway." He walked up slowly and held out a hand to pet it. The cat saw him and started hissing and swiped at him with its claws. Jack backed up, looked at him Mom and asked, "Happy now?"

Rachel tried to calm the cat down, "What did you do to this cat?"

"I told you animals don't like me."

"I don't believe that, you had to do something otherwise it wouldn't be acting like this."

"I didn't do anything to the damn cat!", he snapped. "Gah if you only knew how tired I am of saying that."

Then his Mom took him into her arms, "My baby's alive." OK now she was officially confused. "Rufus had hated him from the moment they set eyes on each other." She turned back to Jack and reached for the 

hood, "Let me get a good look at you." He quickly put both hands on top of his heads to keep the hood firmly in place.

"Trust me that's not a good idea."

"What do you mean...," she got a good look inside the hood, "is that foil in there? Jack what's going on?"

"It's long story Mom."

"Oh trust me I got time. First I have a guy in a suit over a year ago telling me you're dead. Then I turn on the news a few days ago and find out you're wanted by the government."

"It's a really long story," he amended.

"All this time and you couldn't let me know you were alive?", she smacked him on the arm.

"I wanted to, do you have any idea how many times I drove by the house? And what was I suppose to do? Walk up to the door and say 'Hey, guess what ' ?"

"It would have been better than finding out the way I did."

"I know, but things were... complicated."

"Does it involve little miss thing over here?", she jerked a thumb in her direction.

"Excuse me," Rachel crossed her, "miss thing?" Jack got between them.

"She's not the enemy Mom."

"Jack I can talk for myself," Rachel told him.

"Yeah, but you never argued against her before."

His mom crossed her arms, "And what is that suppose to mean exactly?" Jack opened his mouth and saw the look on her face. He put his hands up and silently sat in a chair. "Whatever, I'm just glad my boys alive," she put a hand on his shoulder and he put one of his on top of it. To her she said, "I'm sorry honey, I'm still a little shocked about this whole thing."

"It's all right Mrs. Davidson."

"Call me Helen, all of Jacks friends do. I am assuming the two of you are friends."

"I like to think we were before the current situation," she told her.

"Right now we're just kinda stuck with each other," Jack added. Rachel was about to comment on that, all right go off on him, when he said, "I didn't mean it like that." Quickly changing the subject he turned to his mother. "I know I should be keeping a low profile these days, but when I saw those two drag you into the alley...", he couldn't finish the thought.

"Hey, I gotta pay the bill somehow." Rachel's eyes went wide as Jack groaned. She saw her discomfort and told her, "Honey, I'm joking."

It took her a moment to get out, "Well I see where you get your sense of humor."

"He should have taken more after me than he did his Uncle. What did you steal that got everybody in the country looking for you?"

"I didn't steal anything," Jack told her. Then he started rubbing his left arm, "Not that I had an option either way. It's the main reason I talking to you right now."

"Jack was in an accident, that much was true," Rachel took over, Jack looked a little uncomfortable explaining this. "He was fitted with an experimental life support system. I was his... uh... his case worker." It was close enough to the truth at any point.

"Case worker huh?", she wasn't sure if Helen believed her or not. She smacked Jack lightly on the arm, "So what happened, you miss a couple of payments?"

"That part is...," he searched for the right word, "complicated."

"So I hear," she told him. They both looked at each other and started from the beginning. Not everything of course, they both left the Drakan and rebels out of it, just the basic of the situation. Although Jack did say he did some things he wasn't exactly proud of. Helen took it all in quietly. Well, she did until Jack told her about his plan to split up and what happened afterwards. Then she went right into Mother mode. "You were going to leave this poor girl on her own when you had all that money?" She then proceeded to slap him on the back of the head.

"Ow!", Jack grabbed his head.

"I raised you better than that."

"Yes Mom." She slapped him in the back of the head again.

"And don't use that tone of voice with me young man." After a moment she did it a third time. Despite all the crap he put her threw lately Rachel tried not to enjoy the sight all that much.

"What was that one for?"

"For thinking what you were thinking."

"That your the best Mom in the world?", he said right before getting out of range. She put her hand to her face.

"Sometimes I wonder who he takes after more me or Petey."

"Petey was his Uncle right?" Rachel wondered out loud.

"He told you about him huh?" she sighed. "Petey moved in with us after I lost Ken in a car crash. Jack was only three months old when it happened. I try to stop myself from thinking about the type of man Jack could have been if he was around, and I wouldn't trade who he is now for anything in the world. Although there are times I swear Ken possessed Jack because sometimes they act almost exactly alike."

"I don't want to sound like I'm second guessing or anything, but considering his 'night job'," Rachel felt weird asking this after that, "was he really the best person to bring in to help?" Helen chuckled a bit.

"You would not believe how many times I asked myself that. And I told myself the same thing again and again, if you can't count on family who can you count on? Besides I've been handling my brother for years so he wasn't going to be a problem. The people he hung around with on the other hand," she went quiet for a bit. "It felt like an uphill battle on both sides at times, but I got us threw it." Helen put Rufus back into the taxi, glanced at Jack then turned to her. She gave her that same sly grin that Jack sported more times than she cared to remember and said, "So... how has my boy been behaving himself?"

* * *

Mom stayed for a couple of hour, mostly telling some embarrassing stories about him. Naturally Rachel told a few more currents ones. Naturally he spoke only when spoken to. Not out of respect, because if he complained about any of it Mom had some really embarrassing stories she was sitting on. And Rachel was going to hard enough to be around as it was. He was surprised at how well they appeared to be getting along now. At one point he went to get the make shift storeroom they had to get something to eat and came back they looked at him and stifled a laugh, both of them. He made a mental note not to tick her off anytime soon.

The night ended with his Mom saying she would try to see him again as soon as she could. He wasn't expecting it to be that morning with her pounding on the door. His concern quickly turned to worry as he let her in. "What wrong Mom?"

"You and Rachel have to get out of here. The police are coming, somebody saw you and followed you here last night." Once again he was asking why me?

"I'm gonna kill Nick."

"Nick was the one who told me, he was hoping I knew how to warn you."

He turned to Rachel who was already packing her things. Jack did the same while grabbing some cans of food. She caught a couple he threw at her asking, "Any idea when they'll be here?" The sound of sirens was followed by several cars screeching to a halt in front of the building.

His Uncle did say they were always around when you didn't want them. "Answers that question," Jack and his mom both said. He went to a wall and slide part of it back, revealing one of those hidden passages and the bike. Turning around he looked right at his mom. "This just got a bit more complicated," he mumbled. No way he was going to leave her here. He pulled the envelope of money out of his pocket and put it in the backpack. Handing it to here he said, "You two take the bike I'll go another way."

"Jack now is not the time to split up," Rachel argued.

"Listen to her," his mom added.

"We don't have time for a debate, go! I'll meet you in the back alley by Arnold." He pushed them toward the bike. As they got on Rachel gave her a slightly worried look. "She taught me how to drive these things so you'll be in good hands."

"What are you talking about, you're better at driving these things than I am."

Rachel uttered an, "Oh God," as he closed the panel. He heard the bike's engine start up and fad away as he backed away from the door. There was another way out on the opposite wall and he could have made it if he already didn't make up his mind a few minutes ago. By the time the S.W.A.T. team busted in he was on his knees with his hands on top of his head. Jack was told to lie on his stomach by one of them as the others checked the warehouse. He hoped this bought them some time as they concentrated on him.

"All clear," S.W.A.T. number two said as his hand were cuffed behind his back and he was raised to his feet. "Where's the other one you were with?"

"What other one?", he said as emotionless as possible.

"Smart guy huh?" S.W.A.T. number one said as he pulled the hood off his head. And now Anderson had a good idea where he was. Number one saw the foil and pulled it out. "Hey looky here boys. Trying to keep the mothership from finding you?" He just bit his tongue to keep quiet. "Jack Davidson you are under arrest for theft of government property and treason. You have the right to remain silent...," he began as he was dragged out the door. He was surprised there wasn't a media blitz too as he was escorted to a nearby van. He was placed in and a guard joined him. As they drove off two things bugged him, one his guard wasn't really guarding him all that closely. Two, he knew he saw this guy before. Ten minutes in the guard pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number.

"We got him, prepare to switch vehicles in a few minutes." He closed the phone and gave him a big grin, "Bossman is gonna love seeing you again."

Now things were clicking together. "You're one of Anderson goons," That's were he saw him, he was one of the jackasses from the party. "Then I'm not gonna regret this later." The van turned sharply catching the guard off guard as Jack jumped at him. His shoulder rammed into the guards chest then he snapped his head up catching the guard under the chin. He went down and a quick kick kept him down, hopefully for long enough. Jack got the cuffs under than in front of him like his Uncle showed him and searched the guard for a key and found one. Nobody in front seemed to noticed and he briefly wondered if they had one of those devices Anderson used on him to keep the armor from appearing. Only one way to find out. Kneeling down on top of the fallen "cop" he raised his left arm across his chest to make the belt appear. Swinging the arm to the side he brought up his right arm, "Henshin!", and brought his right hand down.

A bit later the van stopped in front of a waiting unmarked van. One of the guards went back and opened the door. He was surprised to be staring into the red eyes of a blue metal insect crouching by the opening. Jack waved at him slightly before jumping at him and knocked him out without much trouble. He spotted a third guard taking to a guy dressed like a Men in Black reject. The third one charged but 

Jack grabbed him by the neck before he could react. Looking at MIB he said, "Don't think I'll regret this one either." Jack spun the guard around and tossed him at the other one. MIB caught him with no effort and threw him into the wall. "I don't believe this. Does he got pictures on you guys or something? Is that why you're working for him?"

"Cute human," MIB said as he put his sunglasses in his pocket as horn grew from his head and he turned into a red goat.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't see a human standing," Jack said before he charged the Drakan.

* * *

Rachel held on as Helen drove down a back street. The ride wasn't as bad as Jack's when he was pushing the engine but it was close. "What's that?", Helen pointed to something. As they got closer she could see it was a S.W.A.T. van sitting there and several officers laying on the ground knocked out. Jack was not dumb enough to power up the system and take them out, was he? Helen stopped the KR-1000 where it was and made her get off.

"What are you doing?" Personally she didn't want to be this close to the police as it was, unconscious or not.

"Jack might be hurt," she said as she got off and looked around the area. "Maybe it was this Anderson guy you told me about got them." She was trying not to think of that but it was possible. Then they noticed the big hole in a wooden fence. More than possible. About then something blue and black flew over the fence and landed a few yards in front of them. She knew who it was but Helen was going, "Oh my God!"

"Oy." Jack got to his feet and looked at them, "Get her out of here!"

His mom recognized his voice, "Jack?" A red Drakan, looked like a goat, calmly walked threw the hole. Jack got out of the way as it tried to ram it with it's horns. The Drakan grabbed the punch Jack aimed at his head. He went to a knee yelling in pain as it twisted the arm. Rachel went to the motorcycle and activated the lasers hidden by the headlight. It recoiled in pain as it was truck by the beams and came toward them. Jack grabbed it from behind around the waist and threw it back. He started punching and kicking it while he had the opening. At one point he grabbed it by the scruff of hair under its' chin and planted a fist right between it's eyes then spun around and kicked it back. His hand went for the right pod but he hesitated and looked back at them. She knew what he was thinking and looked around. The building to their left looked abandoned.

"Jack that door by you! The door!" He saw it and nodded. Jack reached the goat as it was getting up and punched it where the laser burned its' flesh. The Drakan bent over in pain as he grab and threw it head first into the door. Jack twisted the pod up and went in. She grabbed Helen by the arm and pulled her back, "You'll be safer back her, hopefully."

"What is going on?" An explosion came from the building that got her attention. "What in the hell?" After a few moments Jack came out in his street clothes. It took a few more moments but he finally looked in there direction.

"Helen...," Rachel tried to explain what happened before she cut her off.

"Complicated doesn't even begin to describe what I just saw."


	19. Chapter 19

Episode 19

"Complicated doesn't even begin to describe what I just saw," Jack mom told her. Rachel wasn't exactly sure were to start explaining what they left out from the previous night. Jack slowly walked up, holding the back of his head. His exposed head she realized. He showed her the inside of the hood to confirm what she was thinking.

"Good thing I kept the foil in my bag," she muttered as she started rummaging threw it.

"It's not exactly Arnold's," he said as he looked around, "but it's better than nothing." She looked around too. God only knew how fast Anderson would get another team mobilized. Helen just stared at her son, who was trying not to look too uncomfortable from her gaze.

"They turned you into a...," she struggled, looking for the right word. "What was the name of that stupid show Richie made you watch? Kamen Rider, that was it."

"I try not to think about it that much," he told her.

"And what are you exactly in all of this?", Helen asked her. "I'm pretty sure you're not a case worker so don't try to tell me that again."

Rachel found the box of foil before she answered, "I'm... I was his mission operator."

"Mission operator?", she paced the alley. "And you sent him after those things?"

"We sent him after one side," she offered.

"And what in the hell does that mean?"

"Mom it's... ,"Jack started.

Helen pinched the bridge of her nose and held up the other hand. "So help me if you say complicated I will beat both of you right here and right now."

Rachel leaned over toward back and whispered, "She really wouldn't do it, would she?"

"How do you think she kept my uncle and his friends in line," he answered. Rachel gave in to an urge to take a step back. "Not gonna help you," he said with a grin. Then he saw the look on his mom face and the grin disappeared as he took a couple of steps back of his own. "I'm done."

"Too bad I know better," she sighed. "Can you at least tell me why you're walking around with foil in that hood now?"

"There's a tracking chip in my head. According to Rachel it blocks the signal."

Helen took the foil from her hands. "Give me that jacket. I'll fix the hood while you two tell me what's going on."

"That's all right," Jack said quickly. "I'll just sit in front of you, we really don't have the time to argue about this.

"Then give me the jacket," she said firmly and held out a hand. Jack hesitated but he took the jacket off. Her eyes went wide as she saw the scars on his arms. She shot an accusing look toward her but said nothing. Helen sat down on the back bumper of the van and pulled out a length of the foil. "You better start at the beginning."

Jack sat inside the van in an attempt to block the signal as they told her everything else. The details of Jack's accident. The Drakan, Anderson and the rebels were a little harder to explain. Fortunately seeing the one Jack fought help things a bit. Helen quietly listened to all of it as she lined the hood and soon handed it back to Jack. As he put it on the guard on the inside started to stir. Jack knocked him back out with a quick punch, "Nighty night."

"Assaulting a police officer isn't going to help your situation," his mom scolded.

He jumped out of the van while double checking the hood saying, "That's not a cop. He's one of the guys working for Anderson that we were telling you about."

"Does he," she pointed toward the 'officer' , "turn into anything then?"

"I don't think he would have went down that easy if he was one of them."

"And the... Drakan you threw in that building? The explosion I heard?" Jack looked at the ground. She couldn't even look her in the eyes. Helen looked very sad as she said, "You did say there were some things you weren't proud of." She hugged her son.

"I'm sorry Mom," he said quietly. "I didn't want to get you involved in this."

She pulled back slightly saying, "Don't be sorry. You're my boy, you can drag me into just about any mess you get yourself into." He smiled at the comment. "So, how's your food situation?"

"I think we got enough to last us few days," Rachel told her.

Helen nodded. "Do you remember that lot a couple of blocks down?", she asked Jack. "I'll meet you there in a half hour with some more food for you."

"Mom, you don't have to do that."

"And," she went on like he never said anything, "if I don't see you there in a half hour I will track you down myself. We both know you don't know that."

"I'll be there," he said. Helen patted him on the arm and went off. Jack looked at the unconscious men around the area. A sour look crossed his face. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"About your Mom?" He nodded, "I'm afraid so."

* * *

As they sat waiting in the lot Jack tried not to let the queasy feeling in his stomach take him over. How in the hell was he suppose to ask his Mom what Rachel and him had talked about. Rachel put a supportive hand on his shoulder as they saw her come up. This was going to suck. He got to his feet and gave her a quick hug, "You're late."

She slapped him on the side of the arm, "Watch it young man." She reached into one the bags she had and pulled out two black motorcycle helmets. "I swung by the house to pick these up. I didn't see any at the warehouse when I was there. So I figured you could use them" To Rachel she said, "They belong to Ken and me, years ago. It almost seems like forever at this point. Oh I also thought you might want this too." She handed him a picture. Jack had to bite his lip to make sure he still felt anything. It was a picture himself and Richie, taken about a month before that damn accident.

"Thanks Mom," he put the photo in a pocket on the front of his jacket. Trying to hide what he was feeling he patted the helmet in his hands. "I don't know why you're giving us these. You know my head harder than this thing."

"And that's why I have to keep telling you things over and over," she smiled at him and he returned it. Now if only he felt like smiling at the moment. His mom looked at him funny, she knew what he was feeling, he had no doubt about that. He always had a hard time hiding things from her. She moved a couple of stray hairs out of his face. "It's all right Jack." She handed him the other bag she was carrying. "This should last you a couple of weeks. I'm not sure about Rachel but I know you can be a bottomless pit at times."

"Hey I've seen Rachel eat, she can pack it away." He ducked the empty pop can that was thrown at him, "It was worth it."

"Was he always like this?", Rachel asked her.

"Unfortunately, but like I told you I wouldn't have him any other way." She hugged him again, "I better get home. I know it's kinda dangerous for you but try to let me know how you're doing, huh." He grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

"Yeah, about that." This was sooo gonna suck.

"What is it?"

"Well, thanks to some stuff I just recently found out," his eyes glanced over to Rachel, "you might be in trouble."

"What Jack is trying to say is," Rachel spoke up, "Anderson knows about you. We both think there's a good chance he might use you to get to Jack."

"No offense honey but that boss of your sounds like a real bastard."

"He's a Drakan who sent me after his own kind. Trust me Mom that doesn't even begin to describe him."

"No argument there," Rachel agreed.

"So what am I suppose to do then?", his mom wondered. "That machine of yours isn't exactly built for three."

If this plan didn't make her knock him out nothing would. "You have to get out of town. It's the only way they can't get to you."

"And how am I suppose to do that without a ton of questions?", she demanded.

He looked over to Rachel who just shrugged her shoulders, "This part of the plan was your idea."

"Thanks a lot." Jack looked at the ground to set himself before facing her again. "You're gonna have to go to Nick."

She backed up and held up her hands, "You did not just say that."

"I know this sounds crazy but it's the only way."

"The only way he says," she said to the sky. "I've heard enough from my brother to know Nick doesn't relocate people for free. And I'm sure as hell not taking any of that money you have on you."

"I know, I know but listen to me I thought this out." She shook her head but she was listening. "Go to Nick and tell him that I'm calling in the Ashley incident back from ninety-nine. He'll know what I'm talking about and it'll get you to any city in the country."

"Do I want to know the story behind this Ashley thing?"

"Better if you didn't."

"This is what I get for letting Pete in the house," she mumbled. "Then I guess this is good bye then."

"I guess," his voice cracked slightly. He knew this was going to be hard, but nothing like this.

To Rachel surprise his mom went over to hug her. "Take care of my boy, you hear? I just got him back."

"I will," she promised.

"And if he gives you any trouble just slap him in back of the head. That always worked for me."

"I'll remember that Helen," she replied with a laugh. Then she hugged him and neither of them wanted to let go.

"Jack I just want you to know, no matter what you've done, no matter what you do or what you think you have to do, I'll love you no matter what."

"I love you too Mom."

"I know baby, I know." She kissed him on the cheek, "Take care of yourself, for my sake at least," and walked away. A few steps away she turned and said, "You better have told that poor girl thank you." As 

she continued on Jack promised himself he was going to find her again, no matter what. Right now he just had another reason to be pissed at Anderson.

Rachel came over while he was wiping a tear from his eye. "Are you going to be all right?"

"Yeah," he lied. Taking a few moments to get himself under control he asked, "What did she mean I better have thanked you?"

"I'm assuming," Rachel said, "she meant when I saved your bacon from that Drakan."

"I should thank you for that? You nearly fried my bacon with those lasers."

"Oh quit your bitching," she told him. Then she added, "Chipmunk." He knew he was going to regret the two of them talking last night.

"If your mom's a gabber you better pray to God I never meet her."

* * *

He spent a few minutes that morning to visit Mitchell and offer a few encouraging word before he went into the Mark Two program. Despite being only human he proved his worth in Anderson's eyes several times over. Mitchell should be very happy with the rank he favored him with. That afternoon he cleared his schedule and with Taylor, Armstrong and Perez, the new assault team temporary commander, drove to a dock on the edge of town Allen apparently owned. Anderson sat quietly in the limo, fortunately none of his fellow passengers were in a talking mood either. Taylor was doing something on his PDA. Armstrong was still engrossed in the other Mark One's file, he was just as surprised as anybody to learn about its existence. Allen was far more resourceful than anybody gave him credit for. Perez sat there by himself fuming, an hour after he accepted the job they received word they had captured Davidson only to lose him again. Not the best way to start a new position. Anderson himself should have been madder about the situation than what he was. Part of him was particularly pleased with Davidson performance, and that it once again proved he made the right choice. Although he doubted any of his companion would share his point of view.

The building they arrived at was unassuming at first glance. Perez gestured to the men getting out of the car behind them to survey the area. Perez himself doubled checked the clip in the gun before returning it to its holster. Anderson gave an amused look toward Taylor, tying to impress the boss on the first day. They approached the building and a door opened. Perez got in front of them as a man in his fifties and wearing a lab coat walked out. He asked had a metal flask halfway to his lips before he noticed them. "Oh bloody hell," he muttered with a bit of an accent as he quickly tried to hide the flask.

Anderson recognized him almost immediately, "Dr. Parker? I was under the impression you left the company some time ago."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he grumbled as he came forward. "I've been here over a year an a half on that special assignment you gave me." He put a hand on the balding spot on his head, "Starting to think Allen forgot about my assigned exile. Hey," he looked at the group, "were is the esteemed Mr. Allen? He usually comes here to scream at the top of his lungs at how slow things are going."

"Mr. Allen is no longer with the company."

"Explains why I haven't seen him in months. What happened?"

Anderson looked him dead in the eyes, "He went against me."

"Ah," Parker said while he looked at the group. He looked like he was going to try to run. "Couldn't happen to a nicer fellow, if you get my drift."

"Relax Dr. Parker, we're here to see the test subject."

"Finally come to check out what I'm doing here." He shot a look at Armstrong, "Or have you come to see to see how to do it right? If I heard the rumor mill correctly that is."

"There's a reason why I'm the one still in the main lab Parker," Armstrong said with an annoyed look on his face.

"So says the man who needs help."

"Just remember who's in charge of Research and Development."

"Only because you're a gre..."

"Mr. Perez," Anderson quickly interrupted there triad, "we'll be inside the building if we need you." Perez nodded while shooting a warning look to the scientist. Mitchell was one of the few humans who knew what they really were and he was in no rush to expand that number. When they were alone he said, "Dr. Parker, I assure you your rank had nothing to do with who was made head of..."

"The hell it didn't!", Parker exploded. "I stood by and swallowed every IQ test you could come up with that was shoved down my throat. Because who could ever believe a red could be more than just muscles. And the results were the same every time, I'm smarter than anybody you got under that roof of yours. Hell, I make this twit look like Forest freakin' Gump. But heaven forbid if a green should ever take an order from a red."

"Sounds like the rebel rhetoric to me," Armstrong said. Anderson had to admit he had a point.

"They probably appreciate me a bit more than you lot do." He pulled out a pack of cigarettes out of his coat and lit one up. "Come on then, the guinea pig is this way."

"Is it wise to be smoking around the test subject and the equipment?", Taylor asked.

"Probably not," Parker admitted between puffs. "Not exactly the most optimums of conditions to begin with." The inside of the building was the exact opposite of R&D. The room was barely lit, small and outside of themselves deserted. A familiar tube of blue liquid was in the center of the room. They all could see a man floating inside of it. Anderson checked out the rest of the room. An operating table was pushed against a wall, a still bloody sheet was on top of it. There were various charts of the human body. Graphs and things written on several chalkboards filled the room. Parker sat on the edge of a very cluttered desk and gestured toward the tube. "Well there he is, Fusion mark one."

"Where is the rest of your staff Dr. Parker?", Anderson asked not looking at him but at the person in the tube. He recognized this one from that night. Definitely in better shape now than he was back then.

"You've already seen him."

"You did all that surgery by yourself?"

"Even I'm not that daft," Parker sounded insulted. "Allen was able to sneak in some of your precious R&D boys and girl when I needed them.

"Who?", Armstrong demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Parker answered with a devilish grin.

Armstrong started to say something but held his tongue. Instead he put his briefcase on the table, pulled out a red folder marked "confidential" and slapped it on the desk. "Since you've been out of the loop you obviously don't know about the improvements we made to the system."

"Yes," Anderson added, "we come a long way since the program started."

Parker took the file and leafed through it. "So there is another Fusion already out there," he muttered. A few moments later he put the file down and crossed his arms. "Impressive."

"I'm glad you think so," Armstrong said, but his tone said otherwise. "I think you'll agree we can implements these upgrades in a matter of weeks."

"No need," the man said suddenly, "I already put them in."

"Wha... ," Taylor sputtered, "how... ?"

"I believe Mr. Taylor is trying to ask how you accomplished these improvements and when?", Anderson said for him.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out," he finally flicked some of the ash off the end of the cigarette and letting it drop to the floor. "Hell, any half wit could see it. I put them into this bloke a few month after I got him." Armstrong was at a loss for words. People under him already knew about the upgrades he came up with before Davidson run in with Allen. Anderson made a mental note not to go near R&D until the fire died down.

Still, he might as well get to the point of why they came. "So when will the subject be ready Dr. Parker? Since you are so far ahead of the curve and all."

"Not anytime soon. The bloke was barely alive in that oversized fish tank when I got my hands on him. The boy was a mess, it's a miracle he survived this long. Especially in this mess, seeing how I'm all alone and all that."

"Consider that changed Dr. Parker." Armstrong clasps his hands behind his back. Starting today you will have a proper staff to order around." Armstrong looked betrayed but he didn't personally care if he was or not. "I just have one condition."

Parker expression soured and he muttered, "Knew it was too good to be true. So what's this condition?"

"According to the file this one's armor is still the default gray. I liked that changed to blue." Parker raised an eyebrow.

"Is that all?"

"Do we have a deal Dr. Parker?"

"I'd be stupid to say no then, wouldn't I?"

* * *

This was the moment she had been dreading for the past week. She was asked to come to the "war" room as some called it. Chris hated that name, but he recognized the need for it. Melissa stood outside the door for a few moments. The faint scent of Drakan blood came from the room. Thanks to Anderson's assassin she was marked with that scent too. Her scent would have joined with her bodyguard's if it wasn't for the Drakan Killer. Melissa's thoughts darkened, if it wasn't for the Drakan Killer she wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.

Setting her resolve she opened the door. The other cell leaders looked at her, faces betraying nothing. Their emotions on the other hand was a different story. For a brief moment she felt several flashes of pride, disgust and annoyance. The biggest source of the latter came from Jason standing in the corner over there. His eyes narrowed as she looked at him. She never did trust that one, and she never saw what her brother saw in him either. There was an empty chair, Chris's chair she had no doubt about that. Reluctantly she took the chair. "Melissa," one of the older men said, he name wasn't coming to her at the moment, "Thank you for joining us." She didn't know what to say so she just nodded. He understood her discomfort and got to the point. "The council has decided, unanimously," he looked at a couple of the others like he was daring them to say something, "that you should be the one who should take over for Christopher." Well there it was and she hasn't imploded yet.

"I'll try to fill the post to the best of my abilities." He was satisfied with her reply. How in the hell was she suppose to fill the position that belonged to her brother? Fortunately this particular meeting was kept rather short. They basically they updated each other what their cell had been doing over the past week. She guessed they didn't want to bore the new figure head with details, how very kind of them. After about an hour everyone started to leave. "Lance," a blond headed man her and her brother knew for years turned and came her way. There was nobody in that room she trusted more than him.

"What is it Melissa?", he asked, his voice filled with concern.

"You might have guessed Chris told some of the things that went on in here. I'm embarrassed to say I never really paid that much attention, I'd figured this wouldn't be happening." She took a deep breath before continuing, "I was hoping you would get me up to speed on things."

Lance gave her a warm smile and sat in the chair next to her, "Of course. You might want to get comfortable this going to take awhile."

"I didn't think it wasn't."

* * *

Emily sat in her darken room and cleared her thoughts. A feeling that was rattling her bones told her something major was going to happen. If she was lucky the fates would give her a hint on what that was. She felt like she moved so she opened her eyes. The setting surprised her slightly, the Arena. Emily realized what she was seeing, Christopher's encounter with the Drakan Killer. There was the Drakan made of metal that she warned him about so long ago standing at one part of the arena. At the other was Christopher and one of his bodyguards. Silently she watched as the Killer pole vaulted over the group of Drakan that Melissa had sent to protect her brother. She watched as the Killer jumped up and aimed its' right foot at him. She could not turn away as Christopher tossed his bodyguard to the side and took the blow.

The Killer turned and ran as Christopher flew back and exploded. It broke through and leaped toward a staff that was lying on the ground and turned ready for another attack. The other surrounded Christopher's body and heralded him to the afterlife. Emily studied the Killer. Strong feeling were coming from him, almost like a floodgate suddenly broke inside him. Confusion, hurt, sadness and surprisingly enough guilt. It ... he turned to leave then they came in. The troopers dressed in black surrounded the upper level of the Arena and open fired. Ignoring the massacre around her she studied the Killer. Those feelings that was coming from him disappeared, replaced by different ones. Betrayal, anger...hate, pure hatred came from him in waves. He was as sickened by this event as she was. He ran up the stairs and grabbed the closest trooper. Something was said and the Killer looked back into the Arena as another wave of anger and hate came from him. He took it out on several of the troopers as he made his way out again.

Emily closed her eyes as she felt herself move again. This wasn't what she was expecting but it gave her some insight into the Killer now and it gave her much to think about. She opened her eyes again, but realized she wasn't in her room. Well she was and she wasn't. It was her room, she recognized everything in here. But it wasn't because she was looking at herself and a young man she had never seen before. Emily knelt down to get a good look at him. He had brown hair and a light complexion. His brown eyes barely had the spark of life in them, like something dark and evil slowly took it from him. She looked at the rest of him, gym shoes, a black T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Nothing at all that made him stand out, well except those scars covering his arms. A light of realization hit her. This was the real face of the Drakan Killer. He was in the same room as her.

She looked at herself, she didn't look afraid. In fact she almost looked concerned for the young man. But why was he here, this event never happened. But she wasn't seeing something from the past was she? Fate always did throw you a curve ball when you looked for answers. But when was this going to happen? Emily opened her eyes again and was alone. She tried to absorb what fate decided showed her. Emily knew she had an idea about what was going to happen. And nobody, particularly Melissa was going to be happy about it.

* * *

Jack should have woken up Rachel a few hours ago to take over for guard duty. But if he had to be honest with himself he didn't want to fall asleep. From finding out about Anderson and the adrenaline of 

being on the run for the first couple of days the nightmare went away. Then they came back right after in full force. Of course his waking hours weren't much better. Like before he started seeing the Drakan he killed. Right now he watched as the red rabbit, Molly that's what Max said her name was, walk up and sit right in front of him. All she did was stare at him, just stare. Jack closed his eyes and muttered, "You're not there," over and over again. When he opened them she was gone.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead he pulled the picture out of his pocket for the hundredth time. There they were, smiling like a couple of idiots holding two fingers behind the other ones head. For the hundredth time he felt his heart sink faster than he thought was humanly possible. That man was his best friend, they do just about anything for each other no questions asked. But after all this time, ever since he woke up in that room at World Inc., he never found out were Richie was buried. God, what kind a friend was he? Was that why Richie always held him down in the nightmare?

A pair of headlight that stopped in front of the tunnel they were hiding in broke through his self pity and got his attention. Jack put the picture back and got to his feet with Rachel waking up from the lights, "What the hell?" A man with gray hair wearing coverall and a ball cap stood in front of the lights. He looked at them and then at a paper in his hands.

"You're the ones I'm looking for all right. Of course I could smell that before I even looked at this." Great another Drakan. Jack started to put his left arm up. "Whoa!," he shouted putting up both hands. "Down boy, heel! I didn't come to fight." Jack kept his arm part of the way up just in case as Rachel came up behind him.

Who are you," she demanded, "and what do you want?"

"Name's Dustin," he raised his ball cap slightly, "but folks tend to call me Dusty. And right now, I'm the closest thing in the world you two got for a friend."


	20. Chapter 20

Episode 20

Jack stood there as the old guy claimed he was there only friend they had in the world. He glanced back at Rachel who was just as confused as he was. Still keeping his left arm part of the way up he asked, "Why should we believe you?"

The other man just gave him a ragged grin, "Do you think y'all have another option?"

Wiggling the fingers on his left hand slightly he answered, "I'm pretty sure I can make one if I have too."

Dusty coughed out a laugh, "Bet you could too, and in record time I'd bet. But like I said I didn't come to fight I just come to help you guys out."

"How did you know where to find us?", Rachel demanded.

"It wasn't easy I'll tell you what." Dusty waved an arm wide, "Do you have any idea how many places there are to hide in this city? Well... I guess you two would have a good idea. The guy who asked me to find the two of you owes me a ton of gas money though."

Jack lowered his arm, but not by much, "Somebody asked you to find us? So you're not our only friend in the world." That was one lie he caught him in

"If you want to get technical, but I'm here and he ain't. That got to count for something."

"Who asked you to find us?", Rachel asked him.

Dusty looked hesitant to answer. "Let's just say he's a mutual acquaintance and leave it at that. Be trouble for him if the wrong people found out about this huge favor he asked me to do."

"I don't trust him," Jack mumbled.

"I agree," she replied, "but right now any port in the storm is a good one."

He looked at her in disbelief, "You can't be serious."

"Like he said we don't have a whole lot of options right now." To Dusty she said, "What do you want us to do?"

He pointed to the light behind him, "Y'all can hop in the truck and I'll take you to where you can be safe."

"I think," Rachel countered, "we'll follow you on our motorcycle." He mouthed the word 'our' but she ignored him. "Jack isn't in the mood to give it up just yet."

The older guy scratched the side of his head, "You do realize Anderson has his boys on the look out for that ride of yours?"

"We'll chance it," Rachel told him.

"Suit yourself," Dusty walked to the driver side door and opened it. "How do I know you two won't ditch me when I ain't looking?"

"How do we know you're not leading us into a trap?", he shot back.

"A bit paranoid ain't ya. Then again who could blame ya." He got behind the wheel of the truck and waited while Jack pulled his bike out of the tunnel and they got on. Dusty backed his truck up a bit and they got a good look at the rust bucket of a truck he was driving. He shouted out the passenger window, "Now don't out run ol' Bessie with that fancy cycle of yours."

Jack looked back at her, "You got us following a guy who named his Sanford and Son truck 'Bessie'."

"Would you feel better if he named it Mertle?", she told him. "Besides if he can find us so can World Inc. . If he's offering us a safe harbor we can at least listen to him. It not like you can't handle it if things go wrong."

He strapped on the helmet saying, "Why do I keep listening to you? You're not even my boss anymore." He started the engine and followed 'Bessie' down the road.

* * *

Dusty lead them to what looked liked an old car junkyard. Maybe not exactly old, there were a few newer model among the old. She could tell some of them were missing things like doors or a hood as they passed them. Jack tensed up as the truck they were following stopped in front of a beat up old shack. Dusty got out saying, "Home sweet home. Come on in, can I fix you guys some coffee? Maybe grab you a beer if you want?"

"I ain't thirsty," Jack said plainly.

"I never drink coffee this late," Rachel added. Dusty snorted in response. She didn't know if he was insulted or not. They followed him into the shack. Both of them looked around in surprised, things were way different on the inside. While the outside looked old and almost abandoned the interior was well kept and pristine. Outside from the various boxes and clothes on the floor that is. "Interesting," she ended up saying.

"I get that a lot," Dusty replied while sitting in an old easy chair. "Keep telling myself I'm going to fix up the outside." He chuckled, "Of course I've been telling myself that for the last twenty years. Relax and make yourself at home." They both sat on a couch that was close to the door. "Take that coat of your off boy and stay awhile."

"I'm fine," he said.

"Friedman already told me about that thing in your head. I took the proper precautions so don't worry."

"Friedman?!", they both exclaimed. Rachel asked, "How do you know Dr. Friedman?"

"And why you telling us now?"," Jack added.

"We went to the same medical school." He reached over and poured himself a cup of coffee. "That's when he found out what a Drakan was actually. We both got a bit drunk and I got a little too relaxed. I'll tell you, explaining that sobered us up real quick." He smiled from the memory. "As for why now, this is the only place I was sure we won't be overheard."

"You said you took precaution?", Rachel was curious. "What are you talking about?"

"I got a signal jammer set up in the house," he said casually as he took a sip. "Got some more around here that I need to get in place so you can walk around without that stuff around your head." He motioned for Jack to remove the hood. Reluctantly he did so, then he started scratching the back of his head for a couple of moments. Dusty chuckled again, "Bet that felt pretty good."

"You have no idea." Jack looked like he had a thought, "Are these jammers portable?"

The older man looked thoughtful, "Well I guess, if I could hook up the right kind of battery. I imagine so."

"Then hook me up man."

"You might want to rethink that after you see it." He pulled a shirt off of something near him. It was the size of an old portable TV. It had what looked like a small TV antenna on the top of it. Over all it was about a foot and a half tall.

Jack looked at it saying, "That's gonna be a little noticeable. You got anything smaller?"

"This is the small one." Jack looked a little dismayed. "This has got a range of about twenty five, thirty feet so you should be all right in the house."

"We're did you get this?" Rachel asked.

"I built it," Dusty said with a little pride. "I may be a doctor by trade but I need something to do between patients. Besides I always had a bit of a knack with this stuff so it wasn't much of a problem."

"How many more of these do you have?" Rachel said while finding herself looking out the window. She wasn't sure about Jack but she was expecting World Inc. task force to bust in. Rachel felt a little better when she caught Jack doing the same thing.

"About four or five," he answered, "I still got to test a couple of them to make sure they work. I already have some spots marked out on the grounds. That should give you some room to stretch your legs. I know about being cooped up all to well. In the morning you can give me a hand if you want."

"Dude why is that thing so big? I seen people talk on cell phone that are about the size of credit cards."

"I got to work with what I got," he replied. "If I had the right parts I could make these things the size of a remote if I wanted too. Besides this one's a special build."

"I'm almost afraid to ask...,"Jack started. Dusty picked up remote and turned on the television.

"Don't want anything to mess with my shows," he said with a smirk.

"Hey, cool Gunsmoke."

"A man with taste."

"You two are going to get along great," she remarked to Jack. "So you're a doctor and you can make things like that signal jammer?" Dusty nodded, "Can you take things apart, or maybe deactivate some things?" Jack looked at her tapping the back of his head, getting the idea.

"I suppose." Dusty rubbed his chin, "What did you have in mind?"

"The tracking chip in Jack's head."

"Don't ask for anything small do ya? Huh, gonna have to see if Friedman can get me the plans. Don't want to go poking around in there with out a road map, so to speak. Also gonna have to see if I can get the right equipment for the job. I can do a lot of things here, that ain't one of them."

Jack eye narrowed, "How exactly?"

"I got my connections."

"World Inc. ..."

Dusty leaned foreword, looking serious for the first time, "Boy, I don't deal with that particular devil."

"So you're with the rebels then," Rachel said.

"Not exactly," he told her. "When they have someone too sick or injured that can't take care of they come to me. And sometimes to return the favor they let me have or borrow some things I need. That's about as involved in this mess that I get. But to do what you ask, it's gonna take me a few days to get everything set up."

"We're not going anywhere."

"There she goes talking for me again," Jack mumbled. She elbowed him in the side.

"I'll start making the calls in the morning. Right now I'm betting you two want to get some rest." He pointed down a hallway, "The bedrooms are that way. Bathroom is that door at the end of the hall. Room on the right is mine. You two can figure out how you're gonna share the one on the left."

"I got dibs," Jack said quickly. She elbowed his side even harder this time, "What was that for?" She just looked at him, eyebrow slightly raised. "Don't you give that look." After a few moments he looked away, "All right, I got dibs on the coach." Dusty chuckled as he finished his coffee and went to bed.

"I'm going to bed too," she said. Rachel got to the door than got in, "Enjoy the couch."

* * *

Anderson walked along the walls of the Command Center watching the others inside. Williams was going over some kind of read out in her hands. She was trying to things ready for the other Fusion operative. Maybe more, but there was no need to think that far ahead. Unlike with Davidson, however, they had to a shorter amount of time to prepare. "Mr. Anderson," she called out.

"Yes Miss. Williams," he said as he walked toward her.

"Are you sure about this?", he was expecting this to come up sooner or later. Perhaps it was better to get this out of the way know. "Having another person you know virtually nothing about I mean."

"And you think I should know better after Mr. Davidson?"

"More or less," he had to admire her, she wasn't backing down. "This person could turn out worse then Jack in any case you could come up with."

"A valid concern Miss. Williams. We have taken the proper measures in case something similar with Davidson happens this time around, just in case. I prefer to think of this one as a practice until Mitchell becomes active, maybe that will help you too." Williams nodded and took another read out from an assistant. Anderson excused himself and left the Center to let her work. Granted he was trying to placate her concerns, but even he had to admit that Dr. Parker came up with a rather ingenious solution to the potential problem. Armstrong, of course, wasn't all that enamored with the idea. Parker was more than happy to rub in the fact he thought of something the other man didn't. Strange how he never saw the, let's call it competition, between the two. Then again he was never down in R&D unless he had to be.

Anderson reached inside his jacket, pulled out a cell phone and stopped by a row of windows. There were two rings on the other end before he heard, "This is Taylor." He sent Taylor out to talk to several candidates for mission operator. Not for Mitchell, but for the recently discovered Fusion subject. This time he wouldn't make the mistake of hiring somebody so... human this time around.

"How are the interviews going?"

"As well as can be expected," his VP sounded tired. "But I'm pleased to say it looks like we have at least two potential candidates."

"Excellent. What were their reactions to the nature of the assignment?"

"Some what cautious sir. The Drakan Killer legend isn't exactly a well liked tale among our circle." That was one way of putting it. Some Drakan he had overheard went into graphic detail on how they would handle the Killer

"I expected as much. How many did you tell this to?"

"Chen and Douglas, the two I was talking about. If I had to be honest, I'd say Chen was our best option out of the two."

"What makes you say that?"

"Douglas's brother has rumored ties to the rebels, too much of a security risk. I almost didn't interview him because of it."

"That doesn't mean Chen is clean," he stated. "He could just be better at hiding his affiliation. Arrange meetings for both of them next week. Separately of course. I want to talk to them personally to feel them out. In the mean time we should tell Perez to have some of his people watch them just in case."

"I believe Perez already has a couple of men watching them as we speak."

The past few weeks have been full of surprises. "How did he manage that?"

"He tagged along sir. Perez wanted to personally check out these men himself. Something about making sure we didn't have another Haily to go along with potentially another Davidson."

"That seems to be a common fear going around," he quipped.

"Sir?"

"Nothing important Mr. Taylor. Have Perez report to me when you get back." Anderson ended the call and returned the phone back inside his jacket. He admired Perez initiative for joining in on the interviews and assigned men to monitor a potential leak. But part of him thought it was best to remind him that he was only temporarily in charge. Anderson knew he was more than qualified for the position, but he trusted Mitchell like no other. He chuckled to himself as he realized he trusted that human more then most Drakan he knew. Very high praise from him for someone he considered a lower species.

* * *

On her second official day on the "job" she finally understood why Chris spent so much of his limited free time in the gym. It was after hours and most of the others were asleep, except for a few guards roaming the halls. So no one saw her pound away at the beat up punching bag hanging from the ceiling. Melissa wasn't really worried about her technique. At the moment she was picturing the faces of those who were annoying her to no end. It didn't really matter who was picturing in her mind's eye. Those two jackasses on the council. Anderson and his circle. Those under her who can't seem to go to the bathroom without her say so. She pounded the bag even harder when she pictured the face of the Drakan Killer.

Melissa stopped and leaned on the bag. Thanks to the Lance and council she learned the Killer's real name, Jack Davidson. That was good news to her. That meant it was human, it wasn't some kind of demon from Hell. If the Killer was just human then how did it apparently kill her brother, his guards and the ones she sent to protect him? What kind of human could do that? She mentally kicked herself, that was the legend about the Killer talking. She seen him in action and Jack Davidson was definitely no demon. He was more than human, that much was certain. Melissa muttered, "What did you do to him Anderson?"

"Talking to your cousin again?", Emily voice surprised her. "Christopher did the same thing down here from time to time. Although he was usually hitting that thing using words I won't repeat."

"I've had a hard time still thinking of him as family lately." Emily just nodded as she took a seat on a near by bench. "So what have you been trying to tell me for the past two days?" The older woman was surprisingly quiet. "I don't need a special gift to see something eating at you." She sat next to her, "So what's up?"

"I had a vision," was all she said.

Melissa wasn't sure if she should be worried or not. She never had to drag what the vision was out of her before. "And...?"

"It was about the Drakan Killer," she said softly. "He was here in my vision."

"The Killer finds out where we are?" She found herself going over the various escape routes and plans in her head. "How did he...?"

"He wasn't attacking us," she said. "I was talking to him."

"Are you sure you where talking to him here?", she pointed at the ground to empathize her point.

"You know I can't leave the habitat, not without the proper precaution. No, I was talking to the Killer in my room. It looked like I was guiding him in something." That was a lot to take in all at once. Then Emily hit Melissa with her next statement. "I can only think of one answer as to way he was, or will be here."

She had to stop this line of thinking right now, "Emily please don't ask me to do that."

"I can't think of another way to explain it," she said calmly.

Melissa got off the bench and walked away. "Do you have any idea what kind of trouble that's going to cause? The cells have been splintering since Chris's death. That would pull them apart even further."

"And I wouldn't have told you of this if it wasn't important child. My vision are rarely wrong, you know this."

"And they're also open to interpretation," she snapped back. Emily was taken aback.

"You never doubted me before," she said, hurt evident in her voice. Melissa forced her self to ignore it.

"And I never had this many people relaying on me before. I can't make a decision like that on blind faith, not any more."

Emily looked very stoic as she stood. "The decision, as always, is yours. But I do ask you to think about it a little longer. As leader you have to weigh every option presented to you equally." She left her alone. Melissa screamed and pounded the bag in frustration before she left the room.

* * *

It took a few minutes for Rachel to remember where she was. As often as she woke up somewhere different lately she should be used to it by now. Apparently, judging by the clock, Jack and Dusty decided to let her sleep in that morning. Grabbing a fresh set of clothes from her bag she headed for the bathroom and took a shower that felt way too good. After she got dressed she found breakfast was already on the table. Apparently they decided to not wait for her. So she ate quickly and went to find 

them. It didn't take that long actually. They were a few yards away from the house placing another one of those jammers Dusty put together. She quicken her pace so she could lend a hand.

Dusty knelt down and flipped a few switches. After a few moments he said, "It's working." At those words Jacked pulled the hood back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "You ain't getting tired on me already are you son?"

"I have foil wrapped around my head. Do you have any idea how hot it gets under here?" He looked over to her, "looked who finally decided to get up."

She ignored him and talked to Dusty, "Thanks for breakfast."

Dusty checked out a few more things on the jammer, "Don't thank me thank Jack over here. Best flapjacks I ever had."

"You can cook?", she said in disbelief. "You never told me that."

"You never asked."

"Son, that joke older than I am," Dusty commented while he arranged some junk to hide the jammer.

"Wait, I know your Uncle taught you, right?"

Jack snorted, "My Uncle can burn water." Dusty whistled as he got up.

"Now that's a bad cook. Come on we got a few more of these to set up."

"Anything I can do to help?", she asked.

"You wanna lift these things for a change?", Jack said while pointing at the remaining jammers.

"Sorry, but I already had things figured out before I found you guys. Even put up a couple of warning markers so he wouldn't go out of bounds on accident."

"He just needed a mule," Jack said dryly as he put the hood back over his head. "Say, you don't turn into a..."

"Son," he cut him off, "I'm only gonna tell you this once. Never ask a Drakan what his true form is. Height of rudeness don't ya know."

"Don't you know any better," she put in. Jack just shot her a look. Oh there was no way she could let that pass. "So, how was the couch?"

"Lumpy," he sounded irritated, "very lumpy."

"You know," Dusty said suddenly, "if you two want to share that bed in the guest room go right ahead, it ain't gonna bother me none. All I ask is that y'all keep it kinda quiet so this old man can get some sleep."

Rachel and Jack both froze in place. They looked at each other briefly than looked away just as quick. Jack took a jammer saying, "The couch is kinda comfy actually."

"I think I'll double check those markers," she said at the same time while leaving rather quickly.

Dusty looked at both of them, "Was it something I said?"

* * *

Jack sat on the hood of an old Chevy just inside the jammer range. But he still had the hood on just case. He wanted to be alone with his demons for the moment. Mainly he wanted to be alone, he was also trying to avoid Rachel. It was easy enough to do the lot Dusty owned was pretty big. Outside of Dusty's Drakan medical practice he also ran this auto part yard to pay the bills. So he could lose himself for awhile if he wanted to, and forget that the red bull walked with him for awhile. Of course it helped that Rachel was trying to avoid him too. Or at least he thought she was until she came into view, "Hi."

"Hey." They were quiet for a few moments. "Look Rachel..."

"Jack we...,"she started. They both laughed that they spoke at the same time. He patted the hood next to him and she hopped on. "About what Dusty said."

"Yeah, I know."

"Look, I wanted you to know that I care about you as a friend." She stopped and looked at him, "We are still friend right."

"Yeah, we are," he didn't even have to think twice in answering that one. "I care about you too, as a friend. That's way I'm staying on the couch." He wasn't sure but she looked relieved. "I don't what some of these old people are thinking, two people our age can't just be friends. Something has to be going between them."

"Exactly," she agreed readily. "I wouldn't be surprised if your mom thought the same thing."

"But she was smart enough not to say anything. Although that would explain a couple of the looks she gave you." She shoved him than smiled, he had to smile back. For a brief moment things felt like they were before everything went south. He didn't realized how much he missed that. Then a scream of pain filled the air. Jack and Rachel ran to try to find the source and quickly discovered it. A red kangaroo was fighting a blue bobcat. The bobcat raked it claws at the other one who used it's thick legs to jump out of the way. Jack raised his left arm across his chest to bring out the belt. He swung his arm to the left and raised his right arm, "Henshin!", and brought down his right hand.

After the armor formed he ran toward the fight but he slowed to a stop watching them. "Get in there!", Rachel yelled at him. "One of them might be Dusty. You got to help him."

"Which one?", he shot back. About then the kangaroo fell to its back and kicked the bobcat with both feet. The blue Drakan crashed into an old van and reverted back to Dusty. Rachel called out his name as she went to him. Jack got between them and the kangaroo, "Friend of yours?"

"No," he grunted as Rachel helped him out. "That's one of Anderson spies. I caught him checking you two out."

"How do you know...," Jack started before it charged him, "later." The Drakan threw a right cross he ducked easily. Jack countered with an uppercut but the Drakan jumped out of the way. He rushed in but grabbed nothing but air as the Drakan jumped again. As he stumbled and tried to keep his balance the kangaroo landed, jumped again and planted both feet right in the middle of his back. Jack pounded a fist into the ground as he got up and blocked a knee aimed at his head. He pushed it back and nailed a solid fist to its' head. It covered up as he tried to get in another shot. Then it spun around sharply, Jack got ready for a backhand. He wasn't expecting it to go down and sweep his legs out from under him.

The kangaroo jumped up again. Jack got his feet up catching it in the stomach. He heard the breath quickly leave its' body as it backed up. Jack kicked it under the chin. He quickly got up, threw it into a stack of cars and started pounding away. He backed up and let it fall to the ground. "Who do you work for?", he demand. Jack didn't know if Dusty was telling the truth or not, but he had to be sure. The kangaroo held up a hand for him to back off, maybe it was going to talk. Then it jumped to its' feet and flew right at him. Jack crashed to his back from the impact, stunned. When the stars cleared he raised up saw that the kangaroo disappeared. "Son of a ...," he grunted as he searched the area. Rachel and Dusty looked around too. "Did you see where it went?"

"He was jumping around all over the place," Dusty said. "It was hard to keep track."

"I think it landed that way," Rachel pointed near the house.

Jack perked up as an engine started, one he knew all to well, "Ah hell no." He ran and leaped on top of a trailer. Some guy with blond hair wearing black leather was revving up his bike. All right now he was pissed. He leaped from stack to stack to gain ground. The long haired biker didn't see him until he was right in his path. He skidded the bike to a stop. Jack grabbed him and threw him off of it. The biker turned back into the red kangaroo as it landed. Jack didn't give it a chance to react as he ran in. It fell to the ground and he picked him back up. An elbow to the face caught him by surprised. The Drakan tried to kick him but he caught it by the foot and flung it into a post. The Drakan got up and Jack tackled it but he was flung off. The meter flashed as it tried to jump away. Jack went after it on foot, he twisted the pod down on the fly. The two mini turbines in the belt started spin as he saw his chance. He jumped up at the same time it did. Jack stuck out his right foot and caught it in mid air in the side. The Kangaroo jerked to the side as it direction was forcibly changed. It exploded before it reached the ground.

Jack landed and powered down the system as Rachel and Dusty ran up. "Is it me," she started, "or were you more worried about that Drakan taking your motorcycle than it telling World Inc. where we are."

"Rules of the road little lady," Dusty said, holding his side. "Never touch another man ride."

"Something like that." Jack walked up to Dusty and looked him right in the eye. "Do you mind telling me how you knew that was a spy?"


	21. Chapter 21

Episode 21

Dusty looked himself over in the mirror in the bathroom. Outside on the huge bruise that was forming on his side he seemed fine after his battle with the kangaroo. "Hmm," he mused as he examined his side, "nothing seems like its broken." He glanced over to her and grinned, "Guess being older than dirt and tougher than leather can be a good thing." She just smiled back. "Ah, don't you worry about me little lady, I've survived worse than this little mark."

"If you say so." Rachel looked down the hall at Jack. He was leaning against the wall not really paying that much attention to them. She knew that look all to well, his guard was up. And she should know, she had seen it enough times in the past couple of weeks. "So Dusty..."

"Y'all still want to know how I knew that boy was a spy right?", he finished for her as he buttoned his shirt up while he walked by.

"It crossed my mind a few times," Jack finally said.

"If your looking for a deep conspiracy, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to disappoint ya." Dusty sat in his chair slowly. "Caught that boy snooping around here a few times. Every time I run him off he'd yell I'd be lucky if he didn't tell Anderson what's going on here."

"Weren't you worried he say anything?", Rachel asked him.

"What was he gonna tell him? That a doctor is running an auto part yard? I didn't last this long without knowing how to hide things."

"Still doesn't mean it can't be found," Jack told him.

"That depends on how good the finder is and how much better the hider is." He grunted as he readjusted himself in his chair. "And that made no sense what so ever."

"We get what you mean," she told him. "Right Jack?"

"If you say so." Rachel shook her head. Dusty went to pour himself a cup of coffee, he was trying to look like he wasn't holding his side while he did it. Before either of them knew it Jack was already there pouring some into Dustys' cup.

"Much obliged"

"No problem," Jack sat on the couch. "So why did you risk your neck and fight him?"

"Be kinda hard to explain why I'm hiding the Drakan Killer to every Drakan in town." Dusty took a sip before continuing, "Besides, I've kinda taken a shine to the two of ya already. Hate to see you up and leave so soon."

"I'd bet," Jack said flatly.

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Seeing how most Drakan I've come across wants to kick my ass, yeah it is."

"Jack," Rachel warned him.

"Rachel," he returned mocking her tone.

"Hey you two," Dusty interrupted. "If that's how he feel it's not gonna bother me any. Can't blame a guy for reacting to what life's been throwing at him." He looked over at her and winked, "Doesn't mean he couldn't be a little nicer about it though." Jack rolled his eyes.

Rachel smirked as an idea came to her. "Maybe we should make him cook dinner."

Dusty agreed, "It's the least he could do after being so rude to this injured old man."

Jack looked at both of them, realizing he wasn't going to get out of this one. He got up saying, "I knew it was going to be a mistake fixing breakfast this morning."

"Little lady, I like the way you think."

"You got to know how to handle him." Rachel looked into the kitchen. Jack pulled a bottle of some nasty looking yellow liquid out of the fridge. He looked at her and suddenly had an evil looking grin on his face. "Those bedroom doors have locks on them right?"

* * *

It took Dusty a few days to arrange to get the chip out of his head. He led him and Rachel to the back of the lot. Out of jammer range too, just his luck. They stopped in front of two semi trailers that were next to each other. They were so close together Jack couldn't even see a gap. Glancing over to Rachel he said, "At least one of them will be blocking the signal."

"You're assuming we're going in."

"Why wouldn't we?", Dusty asked her a he opened a door to the one on the left. "I mean I have to operate somewhere. I'm not gonna do it in my living room like some quack."

When the walked in Jack and Rachel discovered it was it was another one of Dustys' special builds. The two trailers were joined together to form one giant room. Well two if you count the glass barrier and two doors on either side of it as a wall. The other side of the glass looked almost like an operating room. Jack ignored that chill going down up and down his spine. "I'm guessing you didn't do this on your own."

"What are you talking about son? I'm just that good," Dusty face was serious before breaking out into a grin. "I had a few friends with, as you say, rebel connections help out."

"You friends are good," Rachel said.

"You be surprised what you can get down when you promise free medical care. Now just to be on the safe side," he walked over to a jammer that was near the sink and flipped it on. "I'm gonna scrub up, so 

you can change in that booth over there," he pointed to the door that was on the left. "Rachel, care to give me a hand?"

"I am so dead," Jack muttered as he opened the door.

"Boy you will be if you keep talking like that."

"You do realize I have no medical training what so ever," Rachel informed him.

"You ain't operating little lady, just hand me the things I ask for. Don't worry I'll give you a quick lesson on what's what before we start. I'm assuming you're a quick study because you have to keep up with all the crap he pulls," he said with another grin.

Jack had a comeback but kept it to himself. No point in ticking off the guy who was going to be poking around in his head. Well no more than necessary any way. He took off his jacket, gloves and shirt and put on a hospital gown that was in there. Opening the door that lead to the operating room and was hit with a scent that smelled like a hospital. That Drakan was definitely good at what he did, side job or not. Rachel and Dusty were already in there dressed in scrubs, she was nodding every so often as he pointed out the various tools he was going to use. Which wasn't many, much to his surprise. Just a couple of cutting tools and some kind of camera attached to a TV. "So now what?"

"Plant it there son," Dusty pointed to what looked like a massage chair. As he sat in it Dusty said, "I may have a fancy set up but I'm still just a back alley surgeon, so to speak. Right now the strongest thing I can give you is a local."

"Is that wise?", Rachel asked him. Jack was question it himself at the moment. "Shouldn't he be out if you're going to be doing surgery?"

"If I was going to do surgery, yeah. But today I'm just taking a look around to see where things are at in the great wide open here," Dusty tapped him on the head.

"Hey!", he protested.

"Please son, it's not like I'm hurting anything in there." Duty walked over to some plans that were on the table and looked them over. "Fortunately who ever designed this thing put an access tube leading to that little bugger in your head. Makes my job a whole lot easier, let me tell ya." He picked up a needle with a clear liquid inside and said, "Say howdy to the local."

Jack looked over at Rachel before he put his face in head rest. Her eye had a distant look to them, "Rachel what's up?"

"What?", she was startled. "Sorry, I was just remembering when you went back to the medical wing after your run in with Allen." She bit her lower lip, "You were in so much pain back then, I..." Jack took her hand, she squeezed back.

He gave her a small smile, "At least I'm in better shape this time around." Rachel smiled back as she put the mask on and gloved up. Jack leaned into the chair as Dusty pulled the gown away from his back. He 

whistled suddenly, Jack looked back at him, "You wanna take a picture and take it back to your bedroom?"

"Sorry Jack," he said, "but damn son they messed you up."

Jack held up his right arm, "You should get a good look at this one."

He tried to relax as Dusty was getting ready to stick him with the needle. "Now don't you worry son, this can be completely painless...," he stuck him with the needle.

"OW!!"

"...When I want it to be."

"I know that was for something."

"Let's just say Max was an old friend of mine." All of them were quiet as he stuck him a few more times, a lot less painfully this time around. "I know it wasn't your fault son. Hell I tested the compound in that dart myself."

"I was kicking myself for a few days after that one too."

Dusty grunted as he turned on the monitor. Jack felt his back go numb and he tried to get comfortable. Dusty asked for a scalpel and he felt the blade slice into him. Now that felt weird. He felt Rachel's hand squeezing his shoulder soon after.

"Relax," she told him. That was going to be easier said than done. Dusty asked for that scope on the tray and put in the opening he made. Jack left arm shot out suddenly and Rachel shrieked. He started laughing. Rachel realized it was a joke a moment later. "Vous âne!"

"Yeah," Dusty said plainly, "that one never gets old."

"Just trying to lighten the mood."

"Try pulling something this old dog hasn't seen before, ya hear." Dusty went quiet as he restarted the information. "Ok I'm turning the scope on. Now this might feel a bit weird for awhile. Might I also suggest that you keep from moving as much as possible." Weird, slightly painful was more like it, but he kept as still as he could. His foot was tapping like crazy, but his back was perfectly still. He should have asked for a couple of beers first. "Well," Dusty said after staring at the screen for what seemed like forever, "one thing for sure, this is definitely Drakan tech."

"Wait," Rachel spoke up, "Drakan Technology?"

"No offense little lady, but do you think humans could come up with something like this?"

"Get with it Rachel, even I figured that one out." Dusty breathed in sharply and he got this weird feeling on the back of his neck. "She's staring daggers at me isn't she?"

"Son, I'd say the only thing keeping her from whacking you one is this thing attached to you. I'd offer to keep it in but she might tear it out. And I got to return it by Friday." After another long ten minutes he said, "Ok, I'm getting close to the little bugger. So I appreciate it if you can stay quiet so I can concentrate." He closed his eyes and thought about just about anything else at the moment. Out of the blue Dusty said, "What do you know, there is a brain in there." Jack heard Rachel laughed for a bit. "All right I found it." He was quiet for a couple of moments, "I'm taking out the scope." It seemed to take longer going out that it did going in. "Rachel, put some pressure on that would you. I made the incision small enough so he shouldn't need any stitches."

"Sure." Rachel pressed some gauze onto his back. "Are you feeling all right?" He nodded. She started patting the back of his head, "Can you feel that?"

Without thinking first he answered, "Yeah." Then she smacked him in the back of the head, "Ow!"

"That was for that stupid so called joke and the 'get with it' comment."

He looked at her, "Damn, you hit harder than my mom."

Dusty chuckled as he watched them, "Well, your head gonna be ringing for a couple of hours and your back might be sore for a couple of days." Staring at the plans he called Rachel over and he put his hand up to keep the gauze in place. "How well do you know his systems?"

"Just the basic of what they told me, why?"

"Look at this." They spent a few moments as Dusty went over something in the plans with her. That fact he was keeping quiet while he was talking started to worry him.

Rachel eyes went wide, "I didn't know about that." Now it was official, something was up.

"Exactly how was a screwed over?"

"Well son, "Dusty began as he rubbed his chin, "I can take that chip out no problem. But they fixed it so the source powering the systems keeping you alive runs threw the chip. Anything happens to that chip and those lines get disconnected, those system loses power and well...".

"And bye bye Jack", he finished for him. "Great, just freaking great."

"There's got to be a way around it," Rachel said.

"I'm sure there is," Dusty answered, " but the thing is I can't do it here. I'd need some specialized medical equipment."

"Like they have at World Inc.", she added. Dusty just nodded as he rolled up the plans.

"Don't think they be up to doing me any favors anytime soon," he commented. Rachel just looked at him sadly.

"I'll fetch the truck to take you back up to the house. I want you off you feet for the next couple of days to be on the safe side." Dusty left them alone. Rachel looked at the floor.

"I didn't know..."

"I know you didn't," he said softly. "You wouldn't let me go through this if you did. At least I hope you wouldn't." He tried to get her to return the smile at least, no go. "I have to give those bastards credit for one thing though, they thought of just about everything."

* * *

Mentally he counting down from ten and twisted the handle on the detonator. There was a slightly muffled explosion and Jason looked over the barrier at the smoking concrete hut in the middle of the field. He walked over and opened the door and looked inside with a flashlight at the results. His newest mixture worked perfectly. There was not much he could do now a days. He appeared at those war meetings as a favor for the old man. But ever since they "elected" another green, a woman no less, he couldn't stomach being there any longer. Christopher was bad enough, but now every one was looking toward his sister for inspiration, someone else to bow down too. It made him sick to his stomach.

As he turned back to his barrier he saw the old man pull a notebook out of his backpack. "Was there a rule change about underling's privacy?", Jason said angrily as he walked up and snatched the notebook out of his hands. The old man didn't even show a hint of anything, and that infuriated him even more.

"I see you still working on plans to blow up the main World Inc. building," he said causally.

"It would end this a whole lot quicker."

"It could also give the others an excuse to join in Anderson's crusade. You have to think of all the possibilities Jason, not just the one you like."

"Are you done with the lecture yet?", Jason demanded as he packed his equipment into the backpack and zipped it up.

"I'm not lecturing, just giving out some advice. Advice you use to ask for if I remember correctly."

"Now we're going down memory lane."

"I'd figure we hold hands and sing next." The old man looked at him, obviously expecting him to laugh. He wasn't cooperating. "Right."

"Why are you out this way Nathan?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"You're never out here unless there's something."

"Unfortunately this time your right. Our cell is being absorbed into another one."

"They can't do that!", he exploded.

"Jason our cell is just the two of us. Even when Kendall was alive I was pulling every string and calling in every favor I had to keep us independent."

"Then we get more to join us."

"Nobody wants to join us. You're not exactly a people person. Both Kendall and myself were asked several times how we could stand being around you. Like it or not we're going to be part of another cell."

"Do you have any idea who's?"

From the look on the old man's face he knew he wasn't going to like it. "Melissa's."

"No!!"

"She personally requested it, I couldn't say no. Besides, I don't think any of the other leaders would have taken us together, if at all."

"I will not bow down to that woman!"

"No one expects you to."

"She's a green, of course she does."

"Have you ever seen or heard of her talking down to or demanding anything from a blue or red? I sure as hell haven't. She's been nothing but cordial to me every time I've dealt with her. We're damn lucky because I don't think any of the other cell leaders would be as generous."

He had heard enough. Jason slung the backpack over his shoulder, "You keep believing that Nathan," and he walked away.

"That attitude is going to get you killed one of these days, you know that."

"As long as I take the other guy with me who cares?"

* * *

Emily watered the plant on her table. Even in this dark environment a few buds were starting were starting to sprout. She always took that as a sign that no matter how dark things were, life could flourish. And there were going to be some dark times coming up if things stayed they way they were. In fact she should be expecting a potentially dark moment of her own any time now. That's if she hasn't lost the ability to read her expected visitor correctly. After last time it was entirely possible she did. She was thankful when someone started banging on the door, "Come in."

Melissa stormed in and slammed the door shut. She waved some papers in front of her, "What in the hell is this?!"

"A detailed account of my vision."

"I saw that. I told you..."

"I know what you said child, and I told you that you had to weigh everything carefully. You can't do that without all the information involved."

The child looked conflicted, "Emily I can't do this. There are factors involved even I don't want to think about. Not without a crate of aspirin right next to me."

"Sit," she motioned to a chair. Melissa stood there. "Sit," she said a little more forcibly and the child did so. "I know you think you have the world on your shoulders. And right now child, if we have to be honest, you do." Melissa looked surprised she said that but said nothing. "Most people would break under that sort or pressure. But you have withstood it better than most of the others in the council probably expected. Child I have know you since you were a babe in your mother's arms, I know how strong you really are. I wouldn't add to your burden if I didn't think you could handle it." Melissa looked at the paper in her hands. "You have several options in front of you Melissa, it's up to you to choose the right one."

"What if I don't know which one is the right choice?"

"I'm going to tell you the same thing I told your brother." Melissa looked at her. Emily leaned in and placed a finger on the young woman's chest, "Look in here. People can lie and information can be false. But that voice inside you will never let you down, no matter how many direction you find yourself being pulled in. It will guide you down the right path."

"All have I to do is listen," she said. Melissa took one last look at the paper in her hands. She then folded them up and put them in her pocket. "I'd better go, I need to think about some things."

"I know you do child." Emily returned her attention to her plant. "I'm sure you'll find the right path to take us down."

Those couple of days of rest Dusty prescribed for Jack went by quickly. Dusty had him pegged as a complainer but he was proven wrong. Jack even refused any offer to sleep in a bed for those couple of days instead of the couch. Although he complained about being kept to light housework around the place after those days were over, again Dustys' idea. He didn't want to be babied and felt he could pull his own weight. They didn't budge on the issue. Right now he was in the kitchen drying the dishes, or at least he was supposed to be doing that. When Rachel walked in he was leaning against the sink with his head down. As she got closer she could see his eyes were squeezed shut. "Is everything all right?"

He opened his eyes and looked up, but not at her. Jack was looking out the window, almost like he was searching for something. Then he relaxed and said, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I can get Dusty..."

"I'm fine," he repeated. Then he changed the subject, "The clean glasses are over there if you want to get something to drink." He reached into the sink to grab something else but there was nothing there so he pounded the counter top lightly.

"That's not why I came in. Dusty said he's expecting some rebel company tomorrow."

"We better make ourselves scarce for a couple of hours then." He threw the towel into the sink, "I don't think Dusty wants another fight around here anytime soon."

"You know," Dusty said from the doorway, "and I don't want to be telling you two your business, but sooner or later you're going to have to with the rebels. Tomorrow might be a good place to start."

"I was changed and sent out to kill them. I don't think playing nice is in the cards."

"Not anytime soon any way," Rachel agreed with him.

"Then it might be time to start mending some bridges." Dusty pulled a piece of paper out. "They always tell me where they're going when they get a piece of info from inside World Inc. they have to check out. Just in case it's a trap and they can't move the wounded all that far, mind you." Jack took the paper and looked it over. "It's dried up river bed a mile or so out of town."

"I know where it is."

Jack put it down on the table as she said, "What do you want to do?"

"I think... I'm gonna take a ride." He walked past her and Dusty and grabbed his gloves and jacket. Picking up his helmet he looked at the other one sitting there and then to her. "I think I'll do this one solo, if it ok with you." She nodded.

"Here son," he said as he tossed Jack a phone of some kind. "Give us a call if you find anything. It's special build so you don't have to be worried about being traced."

"Sure thing."

"You better come back," she told him.

He put a hand on his chest," Please, it's me."

"That's why I said it." He gave her that stupid little sly grin of his as he pulled the hood over his head and walked out. "I hope he's doing the right thing."

"So do I little lady, so do I," Dusty said taking the paper. "Just out of curiosity, how long has he been having those nightmares of his?"

"It's been awhile, since before we left World Inc. I've tried to get him to talk about them."

"But nothing right? We might want to keep an eye on him."

Rachel watched as Jack drove toward the gate. "Trust me, I have been."

* * *

Jack sat on his bike in the darkness on the high side of the River bed. Even he could see this would be a perfect place for a trap, hopefully the rebels would figure that out too. Deep down he knew Dusty was right, he would have to deal with the rebels one of these days. Personally he was hoping for later, much, much later. Somewhere around the time they stopped being super pissed about him killing their leader. That might take fifty or sixty years, if he was lucky. Maybe he should have asked Barry what kind of warranty he was under. Probably got voided the moment after he "resigned" from World Inc. He adjusted himself in his seat as he saw some movement in the riverbed. A group of about seven could be seen in the moonlight. They were being careful, flashing the lights in their hands behind them and up the sides of the riverbed, they were expecting a trap too. Jack rolled the bike back a bit to make sure he wasn't spotted. The last thing he wanted was to be outnumbered by another bunch of Drakan.

Then he saw some movement across the way, then another one and another. A sound behind him caught his attention. Jack swung his helmet toward the sound, it crashed into the head of someone behind him, someone dressed in a black uniform. He knew that uniform, it was one of Anderson's troopers. Scanning the area he saw a couple of more on this side of the bed and figured there was more across the way. "Look out!", he yelled at the rebels. The looked up about the same time the troopers made their move. The Drakan changed into their true forms as a couple of guns on this side went off. An explosion rocked the ground behind them, even he knew there were probably more bombs further back, the rebels were trapped. He had to give them a hand. He raised his left arm across his chest and the belt appeared. He swung that arm to the side and raised his right. "Henshin!" and he slammed his hand on top of the belt.

The armor formed around him as he brought the bike to life. He drove up and down the side of the riverbed finding all the troopers he could and either take them out or make them jump out of the way. Bring the bike around he saw the troopers on the other side started running down into the river bed with those shock sticks in their hands. Jack brought the bike down into the riverbed and drove right threw them. All but one jumped out of the way, he skidded to a stop and kicked him square in the chest. That went flying back as he got off the bike. One of the troopers pointed behind him and he looked back. Jack, the rebels and the troopers just stared as the one he knocked down got up like there was nothing behind that kick. "How many Drakan does he have working for him?"

The trooper yelled and changed into a blue crab. The rebels took the opportunity to go after the other troopers. Jack stared at the claws on that Drakan, especially the bigger one. He turned to grab the staff off the bike, the crab moved quicker than he thought it would and wrapped a claw around his wrist. The pressure made him drop the staff. Then the crab threw him away from the bike. Snapping it's claws it came toward him. Jack sidestepped a lunge and kneed it in the gut. The crab acted like it wasn't affected, this one might take awhile. He got distracted as a trooper landed hard by him and the crab backhanded him. It got the big claw around his neck and started squeezing. Then it ran and smashed him into the bed wall and started pounding with the other one. Jack was gasping for air as a green furry hand grabbed on of its' eyes and pulled. It screamed and let him go. Jack slide down the wall gulping in the air as a green wolf fought the other Drakan. A trooper reached him as he got to his feet. A quick jab took care of him. He ran in and shoulder blocked the crab back a few feet. Standing next to the wolf he asked, "You that same punk kid from the woods?"

The wolf nodded, "Consider us even," he said as he went after another trooper. Jack saw some cracks in the crabs shell on its' chest. They almost looked like claw marks.

"Fair enough", Jack said as he targeted those marks. The crab kicked him under the chin flipping him over. Fido left a little too soon. He rolled out of the way and landed a hard punch to the cracks. The crab yelled and started swinging wildly. Jack ducked out of the way and went for a side kick when he saw a chance. The Drakan caught his foot and laughed sharply, the bastard was faking the whole thing. It pulled him in and started pounding away. Jack quickly got his arms up trying to block most of the assault. When he saw an opening he grabbed the bigger claw with both hands and started pulling. After a few moments there was a cracking sound and the claw started bending backwards. It screamed, actually in pain this time, and started backing away, he went in and stated pounding away. At its' head, it's gut, the crack in it's shell whatever he saw a place he could get a hit in. He grabbed the Drakan and threw it to the side as the meter started flashing. He grabbed the right pod and twisted it down, and the mini turbines inside the belt started spinning. Running at the Crab he jumped up and aimed his right leg at it. His foot hit the cracks on it's chest and it flew back and exploded.

Jack stood there as he landed then looked around. There were troopers on the ground, some where still fighting the rebels, others were running away. The wolf and three others were just standing at there. They stared at each other for a long time. One of the rebels started to come at him but the wolf held up an arm to stop him. Jack looked at the ground and saw a walkie talkie sitting there, must have come off one of the troopers. He bent down and picked it up. Looking it over he looked at the wolf and tossed it to him, "You might find that useful." The wolf nodded once more. He went over to his bike and picked up the staff and put it back in its place. When it looked like nothing else was going to attack him he gunned the engine and rode off, letting the rebels handle what was left.

* * *

Anderson stood behind his desk looking out the window as Taylor gave a verbal report of the operation. Perez was less than happy to discover that there was a Drakan in his command without him knowing it. He'll handle that in the morning. Right now he had a more pressing concerns. They spent weeks setting up that operation, everything was planned to the last detail. Davidson involvement was not one of them. Looking away from the window he said, "Mr. Taylor."

He closed the file in his hands, "Yes sir?"

"Get in contact with Logan. I want to see him tomorrow."

"Logan sir?", Taylor said looking a little uneasy.

"Yes Mr. Taylor." He looked back out the window. "As long as Mr. Davidson stayed out of our affairs I would have waited for Mitchell, or at least this other Fusion operative Allen had stashed away. But he just made himself a nuisance. It is time to take care of him."


	22. Chapter 22

Episode 22

Rachel could only remember one other time she felt like this, when Jack went into that cave to face the rebel leader. Just like before the fact she didn't know what was happening to him was getting to her. But he wasn't just facing the rebels, Anderson's men were there too. Kind of like last time too. Not for the first time tonight she was thinking that she have talked him out of going, find another way to mend bridges as Dusty put it. Dusty, on the other hand, was sitting in his chair watching TV. The only sign she could see that he was worried was his tapping foot, something she never seen him do before. Rachel got off the couch and looked out the window before walking the floor, "Where is he?"

"Jack's alright," Dusty said. "No point in thinking otherwise. Bad vibes and all that crap."

"I should have gone with him."

"No offense little lady, and do what exactly?", he asked her. Rachel opened her mouth but nothing came out. She sat back on the couch, not sure about what to do. "Didn't mean to burst your bubble but I'm pretty sure you would have done more harm than good."

"I'm not used to being left behind," she ended up saying. God, that even sounded lame to her.

"If you say so," he replied. The way he said it told her that he didn't exactly believe her. Fortunately he decided not to push it and left it alone. After a few moments she got up and started walking the floor again. "Remind me to pick up some wood to fix that hole you're gonna make in my floor."

She ignored that comment. "Are you even sure that phone is even going to work? I mean how would we even know that Jack was the one calling?"

"I told you it was one of my special builds. And see that phone right over here?", he pointed to phone by his coffee maker. "It has two lines that I built into it. A regular phone line and a dedicated line connected to the one I gave Jack. If that second light starts blinking it'll be him." Right then it started flashing, she wasn't sure but Dusty looked like he relaxed a little too. He gave her a grin, "Speak of the devil. Here I'll put it on speaker phone for ya." There was a click before Dusty said, "Hello?"

"Yeah," Jack voice came over the phone, "I'm gonna miss curfew by a bit." She was glad to hear one of his stupid jokes.

"Well son, I won't ground you this time since you called," Dusty said with a chuckle.

"Did everything go alright Jack?", she asked.

"My God, both of you are still up? You got nothing better to do?"

"You just caught her getting a late night snack," Dusty covered for her with a wink.

"Oh," why did he sound strange? Then he went back to normal, "The whole thing was a trap by Anderson. His guys jumped out of the woods, set off a few bombs, one of them was a Drakan stuff like that."

"Are you alright?", she asked him. "You're not hurt or anything?"

"Nothing a couple of aspirin and a night rest won't cure." He paused, "That punk kid from the woods was there."

"Wait a second, he's still around?" To Dusty she whispered, "I'll explain later." He nodded in response.

"Yeah, and if it wasn't for him I might have went a couple of rounds with the rebels too."

"Not exactly what I had in mind when I told you about this," Dusty said looking a little dismayed.

"What can I say, that's been my life now a days," he said plainly. "I'll be back soon enough. I'm going to wait a bit and go back for my helmet before heading back."

"You're gonna risk your neck going back for a helmet?" Dusty asked in disbelief. "That's a bit nuts son."

"That was my Dad's helmet," he explained. "My Mom would kick my ass if she found out I left that behind."

Rachel looked over to Dusty, "I met her, she would."

"Whoa," he said suddenly, "this phone just beeped. This thing got call waiting?"

"Sounds like the battery is getting low," he answered. "Hmm, could have sworn that it had a full charge when I gave it to you."

"Anyway, don't wait up," he told them.

"I'll put the aspirin on the kitchen table for you," Rachel told him. "See you in the morning." Dusty ended the call and Rachel fell back into the couch letting out a huge breath. Dusty chuckled as he got up.

"Told you he'd be alright. You can stay up if you want. But if you will excuse me this old man is going to bed."

"Night Dusty," she called out. Jack was alright, now why couldn't she stop smiling.

* * *

Lance agreed to join her as she questioned Aaron and the others about what happened. Aaron looked nervous standing there before them. He reminded Melissa of when he was trying to ask Chris if he could stay on. Chris wasn't sure if having the son of one of the area's most powerful alphas was or not. Emily convinced him some how that it was. Emily convinced just about everybody that it was a good idea. She was good at convincing people if something was a good idea or not. Thoughts for latter, right now she had other things to deal with. "OK Aaron, why don't you tell us what happened last night."

"Keep in mind", Lance added," that we already talked to the others." The youth nodded.

"Well we we're following the tip we were given. Everything was quiet then somebody shouted 'look out'. The next thing I knew Anderson's men were coming out of the woods, shots were being fired and there was an explosion behind us."

"Is that how it began?", Lance asked as he started circling the youth.

"I'm pretty sure, everything happened so fast it was hard to keep track." Lance glanced over to her looking annoyed. Not that they thought he was lying to them. Out of the seven she had sent who were there they had four different stories on how it started. The only thing consistent with each story was the shout out.

Now for the big question, "Do you have any idea who gave the warning?"

"No clue," she closed her eyes before he answered. Sometimes she could get a feeling off a person and she was now. Fear, anxiety, nervousness. Everything she learned to associate with one thing.

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

"Kid," Lance said, "if she says you're lying, you are lying."

"If you don't know who than you have a good idea who it was. Tell us who you think it was Aaron. We're trying to figure out what exactly happened."

He didn't look at them as he whispered, "I think it was the Drakan Killer."

Lance looked up at the ceiling and groaned, "Why him of all people?"

"He did help us out during the mess afterwards," he mumbled. Melissa and Lance looked at each other. That was the only other constant part of each story, the Killer fighting Anderson's men and one of his Drakan soldiers.

"So do you have idea why he decided to help you?"

"I don't know" She knew he was being truthful.

"So why did you help the Killer with the crab?", Lance asked him.

"He was helping us out so I figured I'd return the favor."

"That's all well and good." Lance stopped walking and got in his face, "So why did you let him go?!"

Aaron looked away, "I owed him."

"You owed him," Lance cried in disbelief.

"Lance," Melissa said to make him back away. "Aaron, I understand thinking you owe him something." Oh Lord did she understand that. "And most of us wouldn't fault you for trying to repay your debt, but the other thought you were trying to give orders."

"I wasn't..."

"Did you tell the others about that debt of yours," Lance demanded. Aaron didn't answer.

"Aaron, why do we stay in our human forms when were in the habitat?"

"Because we don't know who is in what class when we're human."

"Right that way we can remind ourselves we're all equal. Even then we have to be careful about the choices we make, particularly us greens. You might have thought you were repaying your debt but the others thought you were falling into old habits. No matter what you stepped out of bounds when you decided to let him go. What do you think an appropriate punishment would be Lance?"

"Two weeks hard labor in the garden center sounds about right," he said after thinking about it for awhile.

"That sounds good to me too. Aaron report to the garden center in the morning. I'm sure Frank has some dirty jobs he needs done."

"Yes ma'am," he said and left them alone.

"Like the situation wasn't bad enough," Lance groaned while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Now the Drakan Killer not even sure what side he's on."

"Nothing is never simple Lance," She told him. "Fieldman said Davidson left World Inc. on rather bad terms."

"He also said he attacked Anderson," Lance reminded here, "but that was according to the company rumor mill. The only people who know what really happen are Anderson and the Killer. And that's if he really broke off from World Inc. This could be an elaborate trap for all we know. Hell nobody could know what's really going on."

Maybe not nobody, she fingered the folded up paper in her pocket that Emily gave her. "We got to take things one at a time I guess and hope everything comes out for the best. So when are you coming back?"

"In a few days for the next meeting. There were a couple of things that just started brewing in my cell when I left. I have to see if anything needs my attention so I'd better go."

"Lance, do me a favor would you," she pulled the paper out and handed it to him. "Read this and let me know what you think about it. I don't want an immediate reaction, think it over for those couple of days. I really need somebody else's opinion on it."

"No problem," he looked a little confused. "I'll let you know in a few days." She nodded and watched him leave. She already had an idea on what she was going to do already. Melissa just wanted to know she wasn't crazy just for considering it.

* * *

"Why wasn't I informed there was a Drakan on my assault team?", Perez demanded. Anderson looked up at him over some reports Taylor had given him. The man did look rather upset.

"Which team?', he asked, allowing himself a small sly grin.

"What?!", Perez slammed his hands down onto his desk. His grin quickly disappeared. "Exactly how many of those bastards Drakan are working for me?"

"For you, none," he answered coldly. Perez backed off. He got his emotion under control after a moment. "However, there are several working for me. I kept quiet about it because of reaction such as yours."

"Me and the men don't like it one bit."

"I don't pay you and the men to like it, I pay you to follow orders. The rebels area pain in the Drakan's communities side as well as ours. With a common enemy an alliance, no matter how," he searched for the right word, "uneasy, is only natural. Mitchell understood that and the sooner you understand that the smoother things will run."

Perez crossed his arms and looked over him, "That worked great with Allen didn't it?"

Anderson mood and features darkened slightly, "I suggest, Mr. Perez, that in the future you check all of your facts before making similar comments. There were factors involved in the Allen situation that only Mitchell and myself were aware of." He rose from his chair and stared the other man down. Perez backed away even more. "You may not like it but that union is necessary, particularly now. Mr. Davidson is an x-factor in any plans we may have in dealing with the rebels. No one knows when he'll show up next and what he'll do. If you can not see the value of such an alliance than I will find somebody who can." Anderson straightened out his tie before he sat back down, "Of course the big question is how Davidson just happened to be there last night. I am not a big believer in coincidences, so I would suggest you find out how. Dismissed."

Perez said nothing as he left the room. Mitchell could not come out of the mark two program soon enough. Bastard Drakan indeed. On his desk the light on his intercom lit up, now what? He pressed the button, "Yes?"

"Mr. Taylor and a ... guest are hear to see you Mr. Anderson." Finally some good news.

"Send them in." Taylor came in first and held the door open. An older man, with gray hairs playing at his temples, wearing a brown trench coat and sunglasses entered. Anderson rose but didn't smile, the other man wouldn't see it any way. The older man held a white cane out in front of him, but he didn't swing it from side to side. Instead every so often he taped it hard once on the ground in front of him. He stopped a few feet from the desk. "Mr. Logan, you are doing well I see."

"I can't complain," he reached out with his right hand and found the chair and sat down. "It's been awhile since I've heard from you."

"It's been awhile since I've had a target worth your considerable talents."

"That never stopped you before Anderson. So who's the unlucky bastard that crossed you this time?"

"I assume you heard of the Drakan Killer."

Logan actually laughed out loud, "Now I know why you man seemed so shocked to see me."

"I didn't realize he be so unprofessional to say anything," He said mainly to Taylor with a raised eyebrow. Taylor started looking nervous.

"He didn't have to," Logan gave him a small smile. "Perhaps he needs a little demo. What do you say Taylor? Do you think you could put a hand on me before I can stop you?"

"I don't think that would be proper," Taylor said.

"You might as well comply Mr. Taylor," Anderson told him. "Mr. Logan will not leave until you do." Taylor nodded and silently walked behind Logan. The older man lowered and twisted his head slightly. Taylor reached out with his left hand, he was right handed so it was a good ploy. Logan cane suddenly came up and smacked his hand away as he rose up and shoved the chair into Taylor. A straight palm shot to the chest knocked Taylor to the floor and Logan placed the tip of his cane into the other man's throat. The choking sound he was making said the cane was being pressed in rather hard. Anderson rose up just enough to look at him. "Are you satisfied now Mr. Taylor?"

"Yes sir," he gurgled. Logan let him go and stood there as Taylor got to his feet.

"So, Mr. Logan, about the assignment..."

"Why do you want the Drakan Killer dead?", Logan asked. "Outside of the obvious reasons."

"Let's just say he's a mistake I want rectified."

"Hmm, I may have to raise my asking price for this one."

"Now wait just a minute," Taylor said before Anderson quieted him.

"The price is yours to name, within reason of course. We have audio feeds you can listen to of the killer in combat. I'll have somebody help you go over them if you want for your research."

"That will do for a start," Logan told him

Anderson raised an eyebrow, "For a start?"

"For a target as large as the Drakan Killer I'd rather witness him in action live."

"That might prove to be a little difficult Mr. Logan."

"If you want him gone bad enough I'm sure you'll find away." Logan headed for the door. He stopped just long enough for Taylor to open the door for him.

"He's asking for too much," Taylor said after they were alone. "There is no way we can arrange that."

"Mr. Taylor," Anderson sat back in his chair, "if we want this done we have to find away."

* * *

After talking with Dusty Jack found out there was a vehicle paint shop on site. Apparently the old Drakan was trying to expand his customer base a couple of years ago, it didn't go well. But he kept it up and all the equipment still worked, so Jack decided to paint his bike. Surprisingly Rachel agreed. Anderson's men did know what the bike looks like she said. Maybe a new paint job would buy him a little time. He took a couple of days and right now he was carefully spraying a coat of red paint. Putting the spray gun down Jack waited a couple of moments the carefully peeled away some of the protective paper he taped on to the bike earlier. Now instead of a black and gray motorcycle it was blue with black and red highlights. Of course now he was suddenly reminded of his armor color scheme but it was too late to do anything about it. Jack pulled off his face mask and took a moment to admire his work, "Not bad."

"Nice work son," Dusty said coming into the building. "I'd barely recognize that ride of yours."

"Yeah, I'm gonna let this dry then put a protective coat over it."

"Looks like you did this before," he said examining the paint lines.

"I used to work at a paint shop before it closed down."

"Huh," Dusty muttered. Then he glanced over to him, "What do you think Rachel is going to say about this?"

"I dunno," Jack said. "I don't think she would care." He went outside to get some fresh air, Dusty followed.

"You sure about that? She seemed kinda interested that you were interested to me."

Jack looked at him funny, "You implying something there Dusty?"

"Not at all son, just stating some observations I've made. Old doctor's habit I'm afraid."

"Well your observations are a little off," even he thought he sounded a bit defensive. "Me and Rachel are just friends. If something was going to happen don't you think it would have happened by now?"

"Who said I said something was gonna happen between the two of ya?", he said evenly and with a grin. "Besides who are you trying to convince there?" Jack found he couldn't answer the question About then a shout could be heard.

"Rachel," he said getting worried. He ran off toward the source of the scream, almost knocking Dusty over. They found Rachel on the ground holding her right leg. She removed her hand and looked at it, a hint of blood could be seen on her fingers. He was kneeling down beside her in the next moment, "What happened?"

"I got stupid," she told him. Rachel pointed to a stack of cars, "That car there on top over there looked like the one my Dad used to have. So I climbed up there to check it out. I lost my footing on and fell. My leg scrapped against that one." Jack looked at the car, a rusty jagged edge of the door had a bit of her blue jeans hooked on to it.

Dusty examined her leg, "It looks worse than what it is, you scrapped it pretty good. But I will say you are one lucky little lady, a little closer to that door and I'd be taking you to my operation room for some stitches. Then Jack would have to be my nurse, and I know you wouldn't want that," he grinned.

"Nobody wants that Dusty," he told him. Rachel couldn't help but laugh.

"Either way it's pretty minor," Dusty looked like he had an idea and looked at him, "Think you can handle this one Jack?"

"Not a problem." He helped Rachel to his feet, "Come on."

* * *

Despite her protest he put her left arm over his shoulder and helped her walk to the operating room. She was expecting him to say something like, "And you say I'm reckless," but he said nothing. They entered the trailer and he left her to get on the exam bed as he washed his hands and looked for a first aid kit. Rachel looked around a bit as well and found a spare towel. Making sure Jack wasn't looking she pulled her jeans down and got on the table. She used the towel to cover her under ware as he turned around with the kit and a tray. He put it down and held the tray by her leg. "You sure you know what you're doing?"

"Mom had us take a first aid class together," he said. "I'm going to have to clean this out and I'm telling you now, this is gonna sting. A lot."

She grimaced as he gently cleaned her scrap with some soap and water. "Aren't you supposed to say it's going to sting a little?"

"I thought you were big enough to handle it," there was light tone to his voice as he waved his hand over it, creating some wind that took away the sting. Then he put some kind of ointment on it.

"What ever, I'm just glad it wasn't closer to my butt."

"That's funny, I was just wishing it was closer to your butt."

She shot a dirty look at him, "You perv."

Jack got a tad defensive, "Hey, you've seen me naked. I'm just trying to even the score."

"What are you talking about?", right after she said that she remembered.

"Well for one thing when I first woke up at World Inc I had nothing but a towel covering the good," he motioned around his waste. "So that told me I wasn't wearing anything in that goop they had me in. And two you were there everyday checking in on me during my second trip in. I'm not just taking Anderson's word for it, I asked around."

She felt her face grow hot and looked away, "You were my key to steady employment."

Jack snorted, "That made my lie about not wanting to be guilted into staying sound genius."

She looked at him, "Your what?"

"My li...," his face went red, "my line... my.. my line," he shut up pretty quick. There was an uncomfortable silence as he finished dressing her wound. This was ridiculous, they were two fully grown adults. They should be able to talk this out with out any problems. Fortunately for her he changed the subject. "I'd been meaning to ask, how did you get involved in this Drakan mess?"

"You're asking me now after how long have we been together?"

"Never had a chance to ask. I mean there was usually a mission we were sent on, we been on the run stuff like that."

"Well it was kind of like you in a way," she said remember the day. "A few years ago I was on a college campus doing some late night studying."

"What were you studying?"

"Business management with a minor in psychology." Jack nodded as he started taping some gauze to her leg. "Well I was going back to my dorm when a Drakan landed right in front of me followed by a couple of the guys from the assault team. Of course I didn't know that at the time, so I freaked. They darted the Drakan and dragged him away and said I saw nothing and tell nobody. Like anybody was going believe me if I did. A couple of days after I graduated Anderson showed up at my house. He explained what I saw and offered me a job on the spot. I ended up working under Heather in the Drakan tracking center. She told me once that I'd be doing her job before either of us knew it," she smiled at the memory. "Actually she's the reason why I was made your mission operator."

"Really?", he said looking interested.

"Really. Mr. Anderson came into the Command Center one day and asked her if she could come up with any candidates for the job. She said she knew the perfect person and brought me into the conversation. The rest, as they say, is history."

"I'm going to have to thank her when this mess is over with," Jack said as he finished taping her leg up. "If she's still talking to us that is. I hope she's ok."

"I'm sure she is."

"Well, we're done here," he said. "Do you want me to head back to the house and grab you a clean pair of pants?"

"No need," Jack turned around as she removed the towel and pulled her jeans up. She had to smile that was kind of sweet some how. "I can do it when we get back." She tested her leg, "Want to walk me back?" Jack got under arm and let her lean against him.

* * *

Things were kind of quiet for a couple of weeks. Jack and Rachel started helping Dusty fix up the outside of his house as payment for helping them out. One of the first things they did was replace the shingles on his roof. Rachel surprised him by being a pretty decent handy woman, according to her something her dad insisted on. One day Dusty said a load of siding was ready for him and he was going to need help getting it on "Bessie". Luckily there was only one guy there so they could load the truck while Dusty talked to him keeping his attention. The last thing any of them wanted was to be recognized. On the way back Rachel rode with Dusty as he took the lead on his bike. A shadow on the road next to him caught his attention before a red shape flew down and buzzed him. Jack nearly lost control of the bike as he skidded to a stop. The truck stopped right next to him as Dusty and Rachel jumped out. "Did you see that?", he shouted as he ripped his helmet off and looked into the sky.

"I didn't see where it went," Rachel told him while scanning the sky too.

"There!," Dusty pointed. A red owl landed a few yards in front of them by a bridge. It folded its' wings into it's back started slowly walking toward them.

"Dusty," he risked a glance back at the old Drakan. He was already getting Rachel behind him. Jack returned his attention to the owl and raised his left hand across his chest and the belt formed around his waist. He swung his arm to the side and brought his right arm up to his face. "Henshin!," he shouted and slammed his right and on top of the belt. After his body was scanned he was wearing a black body suit with blue body armor. Jack got his hands ready to fight. At least with Dusty watching Rachel he wouldn't have to worry about her getting hurt. He started at the owl through the red lenses of his helmet as it stopped and stood where it was. Almost as once they charged each other.

The owl threw a punch that stopped him in his tracks. It spun and aimed a kick at his head. Jack ducked and landed a right to its' gut. He threw a left at its' head that knocked it back. The Drakan spun and charged suddenly knocking him to the ground. The owl tried to get on top of him but he was able to push him off. Jack got to his feet and waited as the owl charged him again. He grabbed the red Drakan and threw him over his head. The owl flew through the air and crashed on the street. Too bad he threw close to where Rachel and Dusty was. He went to attack it from behind but the owl turned it's head completely around and stared at him. "Gah!!," he cried out in surprised.

The owl backhanded him hard and he fell to the ground. It grabbed him by the back of his chest armor and hauled him up. The owl unfolded the wings from its' back and carried him into the air. Then it went into a nose dive and slammed him into the ground. The armor took the brunt of it, but damn that still hurt. It tried to do it again but he had enough of his senses to start throwing elbows back at the owl and it dropped him. Jack landed roughly on the ground and the owl dove at him. He jumped backwards whipping his right leg up. The tip of his boot caught the owl under its' beak and knocked for loop. It lay on the ground stunned as he took a moment to clear the cobwebs from his own head before continuing the attack. Jack started pounding and kicking away at the owl who could barely block his shots. It spread 

its' wings quickly knocking him back and it tried to fly away. The meter started flashing as it kept getting higher and higher, Jack wasn't sure he could jump that high and not miss. He looked around and ran toward the bike. Jack got it on it wheels and popped out the lasers. Raising it up on its rear wheel he tried to aim them at the retreating Drakan and fired away. Two burst hit the owl and knocked it to the ground. A device of some kind dropped off it as it hit. Jack twisted the right pod up and ran at it. The charge went up his side and down his arm as the red Drakan got to its' feet and looked at him. When he got close enough he threw an uppercut that hit it in the chest. The owl flew up from the charge and exploded.

Jack deactivated the armor and put his hands in his knees breathing hard. Rachel and Dusty ran up as he made sure the hood was still place. "Why didn't you let him go?", Dusty asked him.

"It saw what you looked like," he said between breaths. "Even if Rachel and me left you place you still be in trouble with the other Drakan."

"Didn't know you cared," Dusty said.

Jack looked at him and grinned, "I don't, well not by much any way."

"I feel the same way son," and he slapped him on the back. Dusty walked over to the device the owl dropped and picked it up, looking it over.

"We better get out of here," Rachel said to him.

"Best idea I heard all day."

* * *

An hour after Davidson killed his man, Anderson limo pulled up along side Logan. His driver got out and helped him into the vehicle, sitting next to him. As they drove off he asked, "What did you think?"

"I heard the battle just fine from the bridge," Logan told him. "Got a good picture of what to expect. Sacrificing your own man seems a tad brutal but it got the job done and the info I needed. Too be honest I was expecting somebody a little more dominate based on the stories going around."

"I think that's why he's so successful, people keep underestimating him. Almost like an assassin I know. So are you still up for the job?"

"Of course, how many times am I going to get a chance to kill a modern legend?"

Anderson smiled, "Excellent Mr. Logan."


	23. Chapter 23

Episode 23

Jack found himself alone in the house with Rachel. A couple of hours ago Dusty told them he was going to someplace to experiment with that device the owl dropped when he fought it the other day. Neither of them couldn't figure out why he couldn't do it here. Then again Dusty did things his own way so they didn't give it a second thought. At the moment the old Drakan was the last thing on his mind. He was standing in her bedroom doorway while Rachel was sitting on her bed. "You sure we should be doing this?", he asked her.

"It's not like we're going to be doing anything wrong," she told him. She patted part of the bed next to her, "Sit down and relax a bit. I'm not going to hurt you, much," she smiled.

Jack sat on the bed saying, "I gotta warn you, I can get a little dirty."

Rachel just kept smiling at him, "I'm sure I can handle what ever you think you can dish out." She leaned over, turned on the TV and old Nintendo system she found and handed him a controller. "I used to love playing this game when I was younger."

"Never took you for the wrestling game type," he told her as the game started. "I'd figured you played Tetris if anything at all."

"This was the only type of game I could beat my cousins with at a regular basis," she informed him while getting the options set. "I don't really care to watch the actual thing but I haven't found anybody who could give me a hard time at this."

"That's because you never went up against me."

"Let me guess, unofficial block champion."

"Actually that was Richie," they choose their characters. "He was the only guy who could beat me at video games."

"Well you're up against person number two now so get used to it," she hit start. Neither of them played this particular game in years so it took couple of moments for them to get back into the swing of things. After several minutes Jack put his left hand in front of her face while he kept pressing buttons with his right. "Vous âne."

"I told you I get dirty." Next thing he knew his character was on his back on the mat. "What the hell, you cheated."

"You're the one who put your in my face. And I didn't cheat."

"You did too." He put both hands on the controller and eventually got her character in a submission move, "Give up."

"In your dreams," she told him. They kept going until the time limit ran out. Rachel put the controller down and looked at him with a big ol' grin on her face, "I told you that would be fun. I almost had you there."

"You keep telling yourself that."

"Five more minutes and I would have beat you."

"No you wouldn't."

"Yes I would've."

They stared at each other for a moment before both of them said, "Rematch."

Before they could get another game going the phone by her rang. Before he could say anything she answered it, "Hi Dusty."

How the hell..., "Are you psychic now?"

She held up a hand and listen to the phone, "You want us where? I think I know where that is. No, you don't have to come and get us. See you in a bit, bye."

"Does he need me for a mule again? And for that matter how in the hell did you know that was him to begin with."

"No," she told him, "he wants to show us something. And Dusty told me that he's the only who now how to call into that special build of his, so it couldn't be anybody but him."

"Am I the only one who thinks he has way too much free time?"

"Yes you are," she said as she patted his knee and got up. "We better get going. Whatever he wanted to show us sounded important."

"Does this have anything to do with that thing the owl dropped?", she nodded as he followed her out the door. "Did he tell you what that thing was? Dusty kept changing the subject when I asked him about it."

"You too?", she turned to him looking confused. "That's weird."

Jack put on his jacket and handed her a helmet, "Here comes that bad feeling again."

* * *

They found Dusty where he said he was going to be, an old side street under a bridge. Dusty was sitting on Bessie's back bumper throwing a rock up in the air and catching it. Rachel removed her helmet, got off the KR-1000 and walked over to him, Jack soon stood beside her. "Hey little lady, Jack," he said to them. "Did you have any trouble finding the place?"

"No," she told him, "Jack knew where the place was."

"Is that so," Dusty gave him a quizzical look.

"Had a few friends race their cars here back in high school." She wouldn't have been surprised in few of them himself. The look on Dusty face told her he had the same thought. "So what's with the meet up in the middle of nowhere?"

"Y'all probably figured out it had something to do with this do dad," he reached into the truck bed for the device.

"We had a hunch," she told him. "So what is it?"

Dusty turned it on and showed them the screen. There was a small green dot beeping a little off the center of the screen. He pointed to the dot, "That's Jack."

"What?," he took the device from him. She could see from her angle that the dot actually got closer to the center.

"Friedman heard rumors about this thing back at World Inc.," he told them. "I wanted to make sure that this thing couldn't send a signal back to Anderson. Last thing any of us need is for him to find out where you are."

"We appreciate the concern Dusty, she said. "But you could have told us about this before now."

"I wanted to make sure first before I said anything."

"So the foils not any good now?", Jack said pointing to his head.

"The foil kept Anderson men from finding us for this long," she told him. "This has to be using a stronger receiver."

"Friedman heard that too," Dusty confirmed.

"Do you know what kind of range it ha?"

"I was about to find out. Jack, do me a favor and walk away until we tell you to stop." Jack said nothing as he handed her the device and walked away. Rachel and Dusty watched as the dot get further away from the center of the screen.

"Jack stop right there," she called out when it disappeared completely from the screen. "How far do you think that is?"

"I don't like to eyeball," he said. Dusty reached into his pocket and pulled out a tape measure." Hold that if you don't mind." She took hold of the tab and walked toward Jack. When he reached him he took a look and called out, "Little over twenty feet."

"Plenty of space to get ready for something," Jack said.

"And Mitchell trained his men to be able to do just that," she added.

"Why couldn't we do this at your place?", Jack asked. "I got to sit down."

"Cause the jammers I designed mess that thing up pretty good," Dusty said winding up the tape measure. "But son, I'm afraid it gets a little worse."

"What now?", he asked wearily.

"One of the reason I took so long in calling you was I took a bit of a Sunday drive around town. I spotted a few things that looked like that contraption attached to various things. I'd bet dollars to donuts those are sending a signal back to World Inc."

Jack turned away saying, "Son of a bitch."

"Well, at least you don't have to worry about them at Dusty place," she said. It was the only thing she could say at the moment.

Dusty added, "Yeah son, you two got a safe haven as long as you need it."

"Thanks Dusty," he said softly before walking off. He punched one of the pillars in frustration before leaning on it. This was the last thing he needed to find out about. Now he had to worry about going into the city and giving his position away to World Inc.

"I think we better leave him alone for a bit," Dusty whispered to her. "Give him some time to get his head around it. Come on, I'll give you a lift back."

"No, I better stay with him," Rachel said while keeping her eyes on Jack. "I don't want him to start thinking he's alone in all of this." Dusty nodded and squeezed her shoulder before he left. She walked up to him and put an arm around his shoulders. He looked like he appreciated it. "We'll figure something out, just wait and see."

After a moment he said, "We lasted this long, right?"

She smiled, "Yeah, we just have to be a little more careful that's all."

* * *

Anderson walked into his office surprised to find a person already inside. Logan stood by the window, back to the door. Anderson closed the door and waited. He doubted that the other man wanted to kill him. If he did he wouldn't be breathing at this particular moment. But he kept his guard never the less. The seer said no human could stop him, a Drakan with a vendetta was an entirely different matter. "Mr. Logan, this is quite the surprise."

"You're guarded," he said turning around slightly. "I don't blame you. How fast do you think your troops would get here if I did anything to you? Would you even be breathing?"

He tried to keep calm, but this line of questions was making him uneasy. "I'm sure that would depend on the mood you were in at the time."

Logan laughed, "You're right."

He had a little better time keeping his annoyance under control, "I'm only assuming the job is done at this point. That is the only reason I can think to why you are here."

"No, I'm still tracking the Killer down. But I did have a few questions in need of answers."

"I'll do my best to answer them," Anderson said. "To a certain extent of course."

"Fair enough," Logan agreed. "When I observed the battle you set up there was a girl with him. Was it that Haily I was told about?"

"More than likely. All they have is each other at the moment. I doubt anybody would be helping them."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Logan chuckled.

"Somebody else was with them?" Who would willing help two fugitives wanted by the United States government?

Logan nodded, "A Drakan."

To say he was shocked would have been an understatement, "On of us is helping Davidson? Are you sure?"

Logan finally turned to his direction and faced him, "I wouldn't confuse a human for one of us. My question is why?"

"I would like to know the answer to that myself Mr. Logan." He thought it over, "Could it have been one of the rebels?"

"I doubt it, I've been keeping an ear on various things. I don't think an alliance between the rebels and the Drakan Killer could have been kept quiet for this long." Anderson knew he was right. His sources would have indicated such a union before now.

But still this displeased him to a certain extent, "Then we have a man who thinks outside the norm. Do you know who this person is?"

"I have an idea who."

"I'll send out a team to take care of this traitor then." He reached for the phone but Logan put his cane on top of it. Anderson raised an eyebrow in question despite the other man's blindness.

"I wouldn't trouble them over this," he said.

"He needs to be taught a lesson."

"I'll take care of this... heh... 'traitor' as you put it. Free of charge too."

"Really? That doesn't sound like something you would ever offer. Not in the years I've known you at any point."

"Perhaps," Logan chuckled, "but I could use the exercise."

"If you wish. So why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"Didn't think it was that important," Logan answered as he left the office. "I'll contact you in two days to let you know if I found him or not." That was the problem with assassins, particularly that one. Even if he sent a team to correct the attitude he'd be down a team. Then he would have a assassin looking for answers. Perhaps he should start looking for human mercenaries to deal with.

* * *

There were time she often wondered how Chris stayed awake during these cell meetings. Each one took a turn giving an update of their cell's situation. Usually it was the same thing every time. New members to the cause, had to find a new source for supplies. The latest skirmish with Anderson's army. There were a few times she found herself nodding off, like now. However they caught her this time. "Are we boring you Melissa?", Lance asked with a humorous glint in his eye.

She was still embarrassed, "No... I was... going over something in my head."

"Deep in thought huh?", said a balding man named Jerry who started grinning. "Christopher was often deep in thought during these meetings."

"He was so deep one time," Lance added, "it sounded a whole lot like he was snoring." He, Jerry and a few of the other started laughing. She should be glad they were comfortable enough around her now to joke around a bit. But she was still embarrassed and some of the others were annoyed at the situation. Lance looked at a couple of them and sighed, "Some people have no sense of humor."

"I don't see how this is the time for humor," Drake said. It was hard to miss him in any situation. He was the only person Melissa knew who had slicked back hair. And from the occasional feeling she got he was very opposed to her being here. While nobody said anything she knew he was one of the one of the few who wanted to vote against her taking Chris's spot. "Your brother would know that."

Melissa eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance, "That's an interesting point of view Drake. Because this seem like the perfect situation where he would try to lighten the mood."

"He did too," Jerry put in. "Hell I remember that one time he called Drake Dracula for an entire meeting." The other started laughing again while Drake was getting madder and madder.

"Alright people," Melissa said to calm them down. It took a few moments but things finally settled down. Lance gave her a small smile. They were finally starting to listen to her without him having to repeat it. That was one hurdle she didn't have to worry about for awhile now. Time to get back to business, "My cell discovered a potential lead on a World Inc. supply convoy."

"What are they carrying?" Drake asked.

"Medical supplies," she told them, "very specific medical supplies."

"Anything we can use?", Rhonda asked, she was a woman who had her red hair in ponytail.

"There are a few things they're carrying that we need. So I'm making the convoy a top priority."

"So we stop the convoy in route," Drake said. "My cell can do that in our sleep."

"I'm sure you can, but Anderson bumped up security on just about everything lately. I think it be better if we followed the convoy to its destination."

"If he has extra guards on the convoy he'll definitely going to have extra at where ever it's going," Drake countered.

"I'm aware of that," Melissa told him. "But like I said there's suppose to be very specific equipment."

Lance asked, "What's so special about this equipment?"

"Friedman was able to get a quick look at a partial inventory." She took a breath, hesitant to tell them this. "He recognized several pieces if equipment that was used to turn Davidson into what he is now." Their reaction was exactly what she thought it was going to be.

"He's making another Drakan Killer," Jerry started to sweat.

"We don't know for sure," she admitted. "That's why I want to find out one way or another."

"We have to take out the convoy," Drake interrupted, "We make sure they don't get those parts."

"He'll just ship more," Jerry countered, "and we may not find out about it next time. Besides we don't know if he's building another one of these things."

"It's possible they're doing a partial delivery," Rhonda added. "That equipment could have already be delivered by the time we intercept the trucks."

"Either way we should we should stop the convoy. Take what we need and get rid of the rest of it."

"And what if he's has another one on the way?" Melissa asked him. "We need to find out sure one if he is or not. The last thing we need is another Drakan Killer out there. Especially one we know is working for Anderson."

Drake stood up and leaned foreword, "Your brother would know that we should take out the trucks."

Melissa slowly rose up and started him right in the eyes. She didn't even try to hide the anger as she spoke to him, "Don't presume to tell me what my brother would or would not have done. Even if he would have sent a team to stop the convoy I wouldn't, because I think finding out if Anderson is changing somebody else into a killing machine is more important." She looked around to the others, "I don't know what most of you expected when you voted for me to take over his position as leader. If you thought I was just going to sit her, nod when I was suppose to, repeat what ever you decided and look 

pretty then I suggest you start rethinking things. You made me the leader and that's exactly what I plan on doing, lead to the best of my abilities. Now, if any of you have a problem with that then you know were the door is." She sat back down and waited. This was coming for a long time. She prayed this wouldn't cause the cells to split permanently.

Drake snorted and headed for the door. She didn't need her gift to feel his confusion as he noticed nobody else was joining him. He looked at the others and got a disgusted look on his face. He slammed the door behind him and every one was quiet. She wanted to relax but couldn't. It could have been worse, but the absence of Drake's cell was going to hurt. Lance looked over to her and said, "I knew you had it in you kid." That made her feel a little better. But know she was glad she was keeping the plan about Davidson from them now. God only know how they would react to that.

* * *

Jack sat on the wooden steps of the house just staring out into space. When he was younger he hard the phrase "a prison with no walls". Back then he had no idea what that meant, now he had a pretty good idea. Why was it when things were looking up something came along to bring everything back down again? God, Richie was the lucky one. Dusty came out of the house and took a seat on an old folding chair across from him. He motioned at the jacket he was still wearing, "Didn't think it was that cold out here."

"I didn't notice," sad part is it was true.

"I can see why," Dusty said staring out at the horizon. "You got a lot on your mind. That's the thing about the mind though, you put too much on it and it'll start reacting in different ways. Like those nightmares of yours for example."

"I've been having nightmares for as long as I can remember," he replied getting frustrated. He was tired of talking about something so stupid.

"Yeah, but usually people go back sleep when they have one, not stay up for the rest of the night like somebody I know. That's gotta be coming from someplace."

"Dusty," he said sounding tired, not really in the mood to fight, "do us both a favor and stay out of my head."

"Alright son, what ever you say. But I'm here if you ever need an ear."

Jack gave him a small smile, "Bad enough I got Rachel telling me that every chance she gets." Dusty chuckled and they were quiet for a few minutes. To break the silence he asked, "What exactly is Rachel fixing in there any way?"

Dusty slapped his knee, "Wouldn't you know it, she told me and I've done forgot." He leaned foreword and shouted, "Hey Rachel, what did you say you were making again?"

She came to the door smiling, "My aunt Jambalaya. Trust me you're going to love it."

Jack got a big grin on his face, "Ah, that slop you forced down my throat back at World Inc."

Rachel stopped smiling, "It's not slop. God I swear you're impossible," and she walked back into the house. He had to laugh out loud.

Dusty started shaking his head, "Sometimes you two remind me of a old married couple, you know that?" Jack just shrugged. "Of course most of the time you two remind me of a couple who don't realize they're heading that way."

"You're implying something again Dusty."

"This old man ain't implying anything," he said trying to sound innocent. "I'm just sating one of those wrong observations you said I was making." He opened his mouth to say something but the Drakan cut him off, "I know, I know you're just," he made quote mark with his fingers, "friends." Jack waved him off and started to get up when Rachel reappeared. She looked right at him with no expression on her face and had something behind her back.

"Dusty she's gonna beat me with something."

"Well if she does you had it coming," Dusty told him.

"I probably should for that slop remark." Rachel knelt down and revealed the cupcake she had behind her back. There was a single candle on top of it. "I shouldn't give you this either." She smiled at him, "Happy birthday Jack." She handed him the cupcake and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

Jack found himself blushing and speechless, "You shouldn't..."

"Yes I should have," she said matter of factly. "You obviously weren't going to tell anybody. Fortunately I remembered the date from your file."

"Now you're gonna have to find out when hers is," Dusty said, "seeing how you're 'friends' and all."

"He already missed it," she told him.

"What? Why didn't you say anything?", Jack asked her.

"You were getting your upgrade after the Allen thing. It's no big deal." She started to go back into the house.

"Wait," he blew out the candle and got to his feet. He broke the cupcake in half and handed her one of the pieces. "A very belated happy birthday Rachel." He leaned in and returned the peck on the cheek. Both of them kind of smiled as she went back into the house.

"Yup," Dusty said after a moment, "those observations of mine are waaay off."

"Would you shut it," he snapped.

"I was hoping the three of you would be here," A new voice said. Jack and Dusty both turned to the man with the sunglasses, trench coat and a cane who was a few yards away from the house. Where the hell did he come from? He wasn't there a second ago.

"You know this guy?", he asked Dusty.

"Never saw him before today," He replied

"I was afraid you were gonna say that," Jack pulled the foil lined hood over his head just in case.

"You know," the man said, "I'm not surprised to find you here with all the scrape Davidson. Maybe Anderson can use the stuff here to salvage whatever they used to make you the Drakan Killer."

That was all he needed to hear. Jack raised his left arm across his chest, the belt appeared around his waist and he swung his arm to the side and brought his right arm to his face. "Henshin!", he shouted as he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. Jack ran in after the armor formed around him. The man didn't change form for some reason. He threw a straight punch that the other man caught with no problem, then he planted a foot right into his gut that floored him. "What the hell?" The old man folded up his cane and put it into his coat before changing form to a red bat. Jack got to his feet and started throwing punches. The bat's ears wiggled slightly as it dodged every blow before landing an open palm shot to his chest armor that knocked him back, "Damn it."

"Is it a little early to say you're disappointing me at the moment?", the bat asked. Jack tried to kick its' leg out from under him, but the bat flew up with the leather like wings under it's arms. He raced for his bike and snapped the staff to its full length. The bat landed and Jack slowly approached it. What got him was that it looked like the bat was actually nodding in approval. Jack circled the Drakan before attacking from behind. The bat blocked the shot but Jack kicked him in the side with his right foot. It stumbled and he swung the other end of the staff at its' head. The Drakan ducked and swept out it's leg. Jack jumped over it and kicked his leg at him that it caught and the bat swung him into a stack of cars. He dropped the staff from the impact while the bat backed up from the noise as the cars fell around him. Jack slowly got to his feet shaking the cobwebs out of his head and charged the red Drakan. He connected with a right hook that staggered the back. He kept throwing punches until the bat caught one and flipped him to the ground. Keeping its' grip on his arm the bat put a foot on his head then started pulling. Jack was screaming in pain as a blue bobcat tackled the bat to the ground.

"Jack, get out of here!", Dusty cried out as he tried to hold the other Drakan to the ground. The bat quickly knocked the old blue Drakan off. Before either of them knew it Dusty was pinned against an old Ford Mercury.

"I was going to save you for last," the bat said. "But if you're in such a hurry to die...", it raised it's hand for a killing blow. Jack quickly got up and threw the bat off of Dusty. He speared the Drakan with a tackle and drove him into a dumpster. The bat wasn't stunned long enough as it punched his way out.

* * *

Rachel ran up to Dusty as he returned to his human form. "Doesn't anybody listen to me when I tell them to get out of here?" She ignored him and kept her attention to the fight Jack was in. The bat threw Jack into the side of a trailer when she noticed it. The bat's ears moved as it backed away from noise. Jack recovered and waited a bit to attack again. He was being blocked t every turn, but she had the answer. Rachel picked up a pipe and Dusty asked, "What are you planning on doing?"

"I'm going to make a little music," she answered.

Dusty grinned as he picked up a pipe as well, "I see what your getting at little lady." Both of them ran off in different directions.

* * *

Jack landed near the staff, picked it up and swung with all he had. The Drakan caught it mid swing and threw him again. He skidded across the ground and slowly got to a knee. "Oy," he muttered between breaths. Then the banging started to the left of them. The bat looked in that direction as another banging sound started on the right. He grinned behind the helmet, sometimes it was good to have someone to watch your back. Jack started running and pounded his armored forearm against the cars he passed. The bat tried to figure out where the new noise was coming from but all three were moving. It waked into something, it felt like a metal barrel. The Drakan starting pounding it to counter act the banging. In moments it hearing as centered and he could focus on each sound. There was a click above him and the sound of something spinning. It turned itself toward the sound as Jack jumped off a trailer and reared his right fist back. The bat caught him around the wrist with both hands. Jack landed on his left foot as he kicked out with his right. The bat flew backwards and exploded a moment later.

Jack deactivated the armor and fell to his knees clutching his arm. He wasn't expecting the bat to hang on as he kicked it. Damn thing felt like it was going to pull his arm off and take it with him. Rachel and Dusty came into view "Jack is anything broken?", she asked looking at his arm.

"No," he grunted as Dusty checked his arm out. "But remind me never to do that again."

"No worry there son." To Rachel he said, "Come on, let get him to the operating room. Nothing's wrong but I still want to check him out."

* * *

Melissa was in Emily's room with Lance. Nobody but the three of them knew what was in that letter Emily gave her. All of them knew they were past the point of no return with her decision. "Lance," she started, "you don't have to be here when he comes, if he comes that is. There's going to be a lot of trouble when the others find out. It's best to keep yourself out of the storm as much as possible."

"Then you shouldn't have shown me the letter," he said. "Besides, somebody has to make sure you don't get yourself killed."

Melissa nodded, God she was glad to have him as a friend. "Friedman told me he knows where's he's at. I'm going to send Nathan along to make the offer. After that it's going to be up to Davidson if he takes it or not." She looked at Emily who nodded once, but she had that look on her face saying she knew he was going to take. She started to hate that look. "As you know I'm keeping the other cells in the dark about this. I'm trusting you guys to keep this quiet for as long as we can."

"Of course kid."

Emily said, "No one will her this from me child."

"Good," she hung her shoulders. "God help us all if I made the wrong choice."


	24. Chapter 24

Episode 24

He stared out the window of his office tuning out just about everything else. Three days, it had been three days since Logan said he would contact him if he found Davidson or not. And if Logan said if it was going to be two day it was always to days, no matter what. That could only mean one thing and that couldn't be possible. That human could not be that good, could he?

Anderson chided himself, only a fool who believed in the Drakan killer legend would allow such thoughts to rule them. He knew better, he looked into Davidson eyes. The human knew how to fight, in that there was no doubt, but he didn't have the warrior fire within him. If anything did happen to Logan then Davidson couldn't have done it alone. Perhaps he and the rebels did come to an agreement of sorts. But which one, that was the question. Who would be able to keep something like that quiet for this long? And how did they convince the others to keep this secret as well. Christopher possibly, but he was dead. Anderson smirked to himself, whomever that person was belonged on his payroll.

The door opened, drawing part of his attention. He waited a few moments before saying, "What is it Mr. Taylor?"

"I had Logan's usual haunts checked out."

Anderson turned around in mild surprise, "I didn't ask for that to be done."

"Rhodes contacted us sir," Taylor informed him. "There was a situation that he required Logan's talents for. We were the last ones to contact him. Since we were both looking for him I thought it was prudent to ask for his assistance."

Anderson grunted, he would never have asked assistance for anything, it was a sign of weakness. The senior Allen taught him that. But the damage was already done, "What did the good General have to say?"

"Logan hasn't been seen at any of his usual haunts. None of his contacts have heard from him in the past few days. Apparently he had a coupe of assignments waiting for him after he was done with us."

He let out a small sigh, "And I suppose none of his contacts knew who the mysterious Drakan helping Davidson was," he already knew the answer, but he felt the need to ask anyway.

"No sir," he said confirming his suspicion. "Apparently he only shared that bit of information with you. Logan told no one his target was the Drakan Killer. Then again who would believe him?"

"Quite," Anderson returned his gaze to the city below. Although he kept his outside demeanor calm inside he felt an animal rage building. One of his own was helping Davidson, right under his nose. And that fool Logan had an idea who. In his younger days he would tried to force the identity out of him. Of course he would most likely be dead right now if he tried. Perhaps Logan was able to dispose of this traitor. "Is there anything else Mr. Taylor?"

"Senator Henning is trying to make some noise again. He demanding answers to why we haven't located Davidson and Haily yet."

That human was impossible to deal with. "Contact Jefferson and have him send something to the good Senator. If he didn't believe my warning from last time he should after that."

"Yes sir," he started to leave, "I almost forgot. Dr. Parker contacted us, Apparently Dr. Armstrong is denying him some equipment he needs for the other Mark one."

Anderson sighed again, this feud was getting tiresome, "I'll talk to Armstrong about it. If there is nothing else." Taylor nodded and left. His thoughts returned to Davidson. After a while he started to smile to himself. If by some small chance Davidson was able to defeat Logan then the Fusion system worked better than he ever dreamed. A small sense of pride started to grow inside of him. If he ever had the chance to meet Davidson face to face again he would have to tell that to him.

* * *

Jack sat on a barrel as Dusty stood by him looking at his house. The outside was pretty close to matching the inside. The old Drakan estimated they be done in another week tops, barring another Drakan showing up as he put it. Jack flexed his shoulder thinking about the last one, it was still a little sore after that. He wasn't complaining, if Rachel and Dusty wasn't around he doubted he'd be breathing right now. Come to think of it a couple of his last few fight he needed somebody help. Jack started wonder if he and Rachel would have to go on the run again if things became too dangerous for Dusty. He could take care of himself, but Jack didn't want that on his conscious

"Not bad son," the old Drakan said after a bit. "Never thought this dump would ever take shape."

"Just glad to help out," he replied. "It's the least we could do after all of the things you done for us."

Dusty grinned at him, "The least you could do is nothing at all. No, all I did was give y'all a place to stay, nothing important."

"Considering where we were when you found us...", he started.

"No need to finish son," Dusty said as he sat next to him. "I've been thinking, I got a decent size basement. With a little work we might make part of it into a small bedroom. That couch can't be getting any more comfortable."

Jack started to smile, "And you're bringing this up when we're about done with the outside."

Dusty snorted, "I know, I know, probably should have brought it up sooner. Actually Rachel's been down there a few times getting some ideas for it. So you might wanna hurry up and get a say in the thing."

"I just need a bed Dusty," he told him.

"Good," Rachel said as she came out to join them. "Because that was all I was planning on. Well maybe a dresser to put your stuff in, but only if you were good" she teased as he handed him one of the pop cans she was carrying. Jack didn't notice she was looking at him with a strange glint in her eyes until he 

opened his. Pop sprayed him for a quick moment. He wiped it off his face with his hand as she started laughing, "I'm sorry I couldn't resist."

"Little lady that was a waste of good soda," Dusty complained.

"Come on Jack it as just a joke," she said as he remained quiet.

"That was pretty good," he finally said, "I didn't think you had it in you." He got up and grabbed the can out of her hand before she could react. "But of course you realize," he said with a slight southern drawl, "this means war." Jack started shaking the can as Rachel started backing up, he slowly followed. She looked over to Dusty for some kind of help.

"That accent was pretty good," he said after a bit. "That Cajun one couldn't have been as bad as you said it was."

"Dusty!", she cried out. Jack looked at him then back at Rachel with a raised eyebrow. He started shaking the can harder.

"Was I suppose to keep quiet about that?", the Drakan said innocently.

"Oh I am definitely gonna enjoy this now," Jack aid with a evil grin.

"Jack," she said sternly, "you don't want to do this.

"Oh yes I do," he shot back.

"I'm your mission operator and I'm telling you to put the down that can."

"You stop being that the moment we left World Inc."

"Jack I'm warning you," she ran out of room as she backed into the side of the house. She screamed as he opened the can in such a way that both of them got sprayed. "Way to go genius, you got yourself too."

"It was worth it," he told her "You got something right there," he wiped a drop off the tip of her nose with his finger.

"Oh thanks a lot," she replied sarcastically. They locked eyes for a few moments before he turned away, blushing a bit. He didn't notice she blushed a little too. Dusty looked at them with a knowing look on his face, he was getting really annoyed by that look. He was going to tell him to don't even think it when a new voice called out.

"I'm surprised you guys are still together." Jack turned sharply to the voice ready for anything. They all when they saw who it was.

"Dr. Friedman," Rachel called out and went up to him.

"Doc," Jack took his hand. "Come to drag me back for a check up?"

"That would be a losing battle," he laughed. "No I just came by to see if you two were all right."

"I keep telling you they are Harry," Dusty said. "Grab a chair and stay a spell."

Friedman took a lawn chair to sit in. Rachel sat next to Jack on the barrel. "So has this old coot drove you two crazy yet?"

"Jack can be a pain in the ass at times," Dusty joked, "but he's bearable to be around. Personally I don't see how the little lady here stands being around him all the time. Oh wait, he said 'old coot' didn't he?", they laughed.

"How have you been friends with him this long," Jack asked Friedman with a wink.

"Beats me, I should probably be approaching sainthood by now." They laughed again, "But I got to be honest with you guys."

Jack and Dusty both went, "Uh-oh."

"What is it?"," Rachel asked, she sounded worried too.

"I have another reason as to why I'm here," he looked back behind him and waved somebody foreword. An older man came foreword cautiously. Jack got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as the newcomer came closer.

"Nathan?", Dusty asked as he got up. He stood between him and Jack, "What are you doing here?"

"Good to see you again Dusty," he said before looking at them. "This would be Miss Haily and the rather infamous Mr. Davidson I presume."

"You would presume right," Rachel answered. "Dusty, who is this guy?"

"This, little lady, would be a rebel." Jack immediately shot up and stood in front of Rachel.

"Hold on, we came to talk," Friedman said quickly. "He has a proposition for you."

"Then maybe we should take this inside then," Dusty said. Jack moved to let Friedman and this Nathan character into the house. Before following he scanned the area looking for any sign of a trap. Rachel and Dusty did the same. Nice to know he wasn't the only one feeling paranoid at the moment.

* * *

Dusty, Jack and herself were all understandably nervous as they looked at the other two in total silence. Jack never took his eyes off of Nathan as he stood next to her. Dusty asked if anybody wanted a drink but nobody said anything. They kept staring at each other for several moments before Friedman said, "Well this is getting us no where."

"A little warning would have been nice," Jack told him.

"I got to go with Jack on this one," Dusty added. "I don't mind you dropping in out of the blue, but if you're gonna bring company I would have set something up."

"Or give us time to get ready," she mumbled. Jack grunted in agreement.

"I wanted to make sure you'd still be here when we came," he explained. "Let's face it, Jack and the rebel don't have the best of relationships."

"That goes without saying," Nathan said finally. "I guess I might as well get to the point to why I'm here." He took a deep breath. To Rachel it looked like he couldn't believe what was about to come out of his mouth, "I've been asked to offer you an invitation."

"To what?", Rachel asked as Jack eyes narrowed a bit

"To join us," he said. She and Dusty were shocked but Jack looked unfazed to her. "You don't seem all that surprised Davidson."

"Not the first time I heard it. Your leader made me the same offer when I faced him."

She was shocked again, "You never told me that."

"I try not to think about that day too much."

"Hmm," Nathan said, "knowing Christopher I wouldn't be surprised. I hope this day will end better than that one did." They all heard the edge in his voice. "But you might want to think about taking the offer. A Drakan or two already found you, judging by the smell around here. It's only a matter of time before Anderson's men find you here too."

"I don't scare easily," Jack told him.

"I didn't think you did Davidson, I'm just stating fact."

"Why are you offering this all of the sudden?", Rachel asked. "It's a bit out of the blue."

"I'd imagine it would have something to do with the other night. He did help our people out then,"

"I'd helped you guy out one time," Jack said plainly.

"Well twice if you count the dart you gave me," Friedman put in. "And you let the kids go too."

"Still," Rachel said, "it seems a bit strange."

Dusty added, "It smells like a trap to this old man."

"If I was in your position I'd be thinking the same thing," Nathan admitted. "But I was told by my current leader to assure you that you'd be safe."

"Maybe we better step out for a bit," Friedman said getting up. "Give them time to think this over." Nathan agreed and they walked outside. The three of them looked at each other.

"Any idea who this new leader is?", Jack asked Dusty.

"I told you son, my contacts with the rebels is kinda limited. I don't keep up on the coming and goings. Starting to wish I did though," he sighed. "What do you two think?"

"I think," Jack said as he started at the ceiling, "we're back in the run again if I say no."

"Not necessarily," Dusty tried to argue.

"The rebel would know were we are," Rachel countered. "There's bound to be a few rebels with a grudge who would come looking for him."

"And you want to walk into that?"

"Staying here might put you in danger Dusty."

"Anything happens to me and they lost their free medical care," Dusty told her flatly. "Hell if they do anything to you the same thing gonna happen."

"I think they can here you Dusty," Rachel told him pointing at the door.

"I don't care!", he said loudly. "You may have stayed here a little while but I think of you two like my own family. Hell it's not your fault you're in this mess, it's this damn war! The two of you shouldn't have to keep paying the price for their stupidity."

"Dusty calm down" She tried to get him to sit back down. "Even you said we have to deal with them sooner or later."

"I know I did darlin'. But I meant of equal ground, not like this."

"I don't want to leave either Dusty," Jack said softly. Dusty tried to hide hat his eyes were starting to water. "But I don't think we have much of a choice."

"Then I'm going with you to check things out," Dusty said after a moment. They started to protest but he cut them off, "No arguing, my mind's already made up. Besides somebody gotta make sure they treat the two of you right."

"Thanks Dusty," she said. "I'll let Friedman know our decision." Rachel turned toward the door and saw Friedman standing there. He nodded and went back outside. Jack grabbed his backpack and started throwing his clothes in it. She figured she better do the same. Rachel took a quick look around the house, it seemed like it was just last night that Dusty found them. Now they had to leave when things were just starting to feel like home. She didn't want to even think about how this was affecting Jack.

* * *

This entire situation sucked. Again, why was it that when everything looked liked they were going right something happened to knock it down again? Of course now he was dragging more people along for the ride. Jack didn't think the situation could get any worse then Nathan said they had to be blindfolded. Now he had no idea where the hell they were going. Fortunately Dusty insisted that he drive them there in Bessie. That made him feel a little better. Dusty said that any of this felt like a trap he turn the rust bucket around and get them out of there. He should have insisted they bring his bike along too, just for the get away if they had too.

After what seemed like forever he felt Bessie come to a stop and her engine turn off. Jack was going for his blindfold when Friedman said they had to keep them on a little longer. Rachel let out a small curse as the door opened and they were helped out. Dusty guided them a little way before he heard a door open and they were led inside. The door was closed before Friedman told them, "All right you can take them off now." Jack quickly ripped his off, all he could see was a poorly lit tunnel.

"Quaint," Rachel said looking around.

"This is one of the tunnels leading to this cell's base," Dusty informed them.

"Cell?", Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"As in more than one?", Rachel looked surprised. "World Inc's Intel never said anything about there being more than one group of rebels. But I guess that makes sense, if Anderson located one then the other could keep going."

"I'm pretty sure Anderson thought it was need to know," Friedman offered.

"This way," Nathan took the lead. All three of them kept an eye on their surroundings. Friedman tried to make some small talk, find out how they been but he and Rachel pretty much ignored him. About half a mile later Nathan took a side tunnel, then another one after that and a few more yards stopped in front of a wall and knocked hard three times. There was a loud click and part of the wall swung in. As they walked in the guy on the other side stared at Jack, he gave him a quick glance before following the other down the winding set of stairs. A couple of flights and short walk later Nathan proclaimed, "The main square so to speak."

Jack and Rachel was staring at the sight in front of them. Under a bunch of lights was an underground community. A couple of house like structures were set up. Everyone, they looked human but he had a feeling they were all Drakans, were dressed normally enough but a few looked a little ragged around the edges. Children were playing and running around. Several of the adults stopped what they were doing and looked at them. Soon all of them stopped and looked in their direction. "This is only a small part of the habitat," Nathan explained. "Most of the tunnels lead to other parts, living area, eating area and so forth. I think I see her, come this way."

He followed but he was paying attention to everybody else. Some of the Drakan looked at him in contempt, most of them had fear in their eyes. Several parents held their children close to them as he passed. Then his gaze fell on a man with short blond hair with a look of disgust on his face. "I think I know him." he murmured.

"What did you say Jack?", Rachel asked him.

Jack looked away and said, "Nothing. He started shaking his head, "I can't believe Anderson consider these people a threat."

"Us, maybe," a female voice said. "The idea we represent, most definitely." Jack saw a dark haired woman with blue eyes walk toward them. She was followed by guy with long blond hair and an old woman. He recognized her almost immediately.

"I don't believe it."

"Hello again Mr. Davidson, it good to see you under slightly better circumstances."

"You two know each other?", Rachel asked in disbelief.

"You could say that," Jack said.

"He saved my life once," she answered. "Although I'm surprised you took me up on my offer so soon."

"You're the leader?", it was Jack turn to be surprised.

"Thanks to you," she said bitterly, "yes. When I talk to somebody I prefer to see their entire face."

"Not sure that's good idea," he told her.

"We had the signal jammers in place for a while now so you don't have to worry about being located."

Jack turned to Rachel getting really annoyed, "Did everybody know about this bug in my head before I did?"

"In a way child," the old woman spoke up. She turned around and pulled up her hair to reveal a scar on the back of her neck, "It was one of Anderson earlier attempts to control the situation. Several of us have similar trackers implanted in our bodies.

"Anderson had his people connect them to their nervous system," Friedman explained, "in such away that if they were removed the damage would be permanent."

"Like I needed more proof he was a bastard," Jack mumbled.

"So... uh...," Rachel looked at the leader trying to get a name.

"Melissa," she offered.

"Melissa, why did you send for us? It seemed a little sudden. We could only think of a couple of reason why, but it didn't seem like much to offer an alliance."

"True," she agreed, "but as they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. If were both have a common enemy then we should consider joining forces."

"If he's really gone from Anderson that is," the guy with her said.

Melissa turned her head and in a warning tone said, "Lance."

"Trust me, I have no loyalty toward Anderson," Jack told them. "He sent me after his own kind for crying out loud. He sent me after kids for God's sake. Why would I be loyal to him after all that crap?"

"The incident with the children happened a while ago," The old woman said. "Why did you stay so long then?"

"I was trying to figure out what was going on." He looked at the floor before he looked back at them, "That and we had a deal. One of you was responsible for putting me in this position. I help him and he would help me find that damn mon...," he trailed off as a light went off in his head, "monkey," he said softly and turned back to the crowd as he scanned their human faces. In his mind he was back in the mountains on that day. His legs and left arm were crushed by boulders. The blue monkey landed by him and turned into a man with short blond hair. Just like the one over there with disgust etched in his face. Rachel and Dusty tried to get his attention but he didn't hear them. Slowly the anger he was feeling started to show on his face. "You," he hissed between his teeth.

Screaming he charged the man. The other Drakan quickly got out of his way as the man stood there. Jack tackled him to the ground and started wailing away with his fists. The others didn't shy away from the fight. Dusty and somebody else had to drag him off the blond haired man. "Let me go!", he screamed as he struggled to free himself.

"Calm down son," Dusty told him, "you ain't helping yourself any."

"I told you he couldn't be trusted around us," Lance said but Melissa ignored him.

"What was that about?", she demanded.

"That's the monkey! Let me go damn it!!"

Rachel looked t the man, who was being held back as well, then back to him, "Jack are you sure?"

"Would I be trying to kill him if I wasn't?", he shot back not taking his eyes off his target.

Rachel went to Melissa, "Listen to me, World Inc. heard some info on a rebel operative. A team was sent out but it was a trap. Jack and a friend of his was caught in that trap as well. The rebel was a blue Drakan monkey."

"Really?", Melissa asked as he stop struggling. "What was the date of this." That day was burned into his memory and told her the date without hesitation. "Please tell me you didn't have a operation that day."

"I'm afraid so," Nathan answered as she closed her eyes. "That's pretty close to how Jason described it."

Melissa sighed before speaking, "Then it appears we are partially responsible for the Drakan Killer existence." The crowd started talking among themselves at the news. "We do seem to have a slight 

problem right here," she said looking at the two of them.

"Perhaps," the old woman started, "a call of honor combat is in order." Melissa acted like she was surprised she even said that.

"Honor... combat?", Rachel wondered out loud.

Dusty explained, "It's an old tradition. When somebody is wronged, I mean really, really wronged, the person can challenge the other to, well, combat."

"Does that mean I get to kill him?", Jack turned away just long enough to see the old woman nod once. "What she said, I call that."

"I accept," Jason said before anybody else could say anything.

Melissa shook her head and walked off with the old woman following. The crowd slowly disappeared, buzzing about what just happened. Jason grinned and followed them soon after. Dusty let him go saying, "Think before you call for something like that." He didn't care, he was finally going to get his hands on that damn monkey.

* * *

"Honor combat?", Melissa said as she paced Emily's room. "I'm trying to do this as peacefully as I can. I probably could have worked things out between the two of them. But you had to give them an option to tear each other apart." Emily just sat there tending to her plant. She hated it when she did that.

"I beg to differ child," she finally said. "I doubt even your brother could even handle that." That took her by surprise, to everybody else her brother could do just about anything. "Even I felt the hatred emanating between the two of them."

Melissa looked away, she didn't want to admit it but the power behind that emotion almost knocked her for a loop. "There has to be another way."

"Perhaps there is child, but until you find it the strife between them would eventually spread to the others. Trust me child, there is no other way. This must be dealt with now if we are to continue foreword."

"And if they kill each other in the process?" Emily said nothing. "I just hope this doesn't blow up in our faces."

* * *

"Maybe you can back out," Rachel said. Jack just ignored her, he just paced like a caged animal. Dusty gave them a quick lesson about the thing before he left them alone. She could use him right about know to try to talk some sense into this knucklehead. "Jack we're trying to make peace with these guys remember?"

"Not while he's here," he said. "We can talk about getting along after I kill him."

"Killing him isn't going to help us any."

"I really don't care," and he went back to ignoring her. God he could be impossible when he wanted to. About then two men came walking in, one carrying a bowl of something. "What do you want?"

"Tradition says that those in honor combat must be marked for combat," he gestured to the bowl the other was carrying. "Please remove your Jacket, shirt and gloves."

"What ever you're gonna put on me isn't going to be seen for long." They said nothing, just staring at him. "Whatever," Jack bared his upper body. The two looked at the scars covering him then at each other. Then they began marking his chest with the grease like substance. She was expecting him to make a comment, a joke or something but he kept quiet. They lead them to an open area with a pit dug into the floor. It was already pretty crowded but she could see the human form of the monkey already in the pit. Without any prompting Jack jumped in and stood behind the line marked on the floor. Rachel looked around as the other Drakan were talking to each other as they pointed at Jack. A cold spot started to form in her stomach, dear God what was he thinking.

She could see Melissa raise a hand to grab everyone attention. "A call of honor combat has been made." A hand on her shoulder made her jump until she saw it was Dusty. He smiled and squeezed her shoulder as Melissa continued talking. "It has been years since one has been called for, but today we must heed it's call. Are the two ready?" The monkey changed into his true form and nodded, is marking could still be seen on his fur. Jack raised his left arm across his chest and the Fusion belt appeared. The Drakan started buzzing again as he move his arm to the side and brought his right arm to his face. "No matter the outcome no one will do anything to the combatants after it is over, is that clear?" Nobody said anything. The spot in her stomach started to grow with each passing moment. They stood there in the pit just staring at each other, but she could see Jack finger on his right hand twitching slightly. Melissa raised a hand above her head, she didn't look pleased as she brought it down, "Begin!"

Rachel closed her eyes as she heard Jack shout out, "Henshin!"


	25. Chapter 25

Episode 25

Rachel and Dusty thought he was out his mind, but he didn't care. A Drakan woman he saved turned out to be the rebel leader, but he didn't care. He was surrounded by a bunch of people who more than likely wanted him dead, but he didn't care. He had stuff that smelled like crap painted on him, but he didn't care. All he cared about at the moment was that he was finally going to get his hands on the monkey. No nightmares, no Rachel getting herself in danger, nothing to get in his way this time. Damn it, he could taste it.

The rebel leader was making a speech but he zoned her out. All but the part where she asked if they were ready. The monkey changed into his true form and a fresh wave of rage flowed through him. Jack immediately raised his left arm across his chest to make the belt appear around his waist. Just as fast he swung his left arm to the side and brought his right arm up to his face and waited. They stood there burning holes into each others with their eyes as they waited for Melissa to let them loose. It seemed like forever but she finally gave the word and brought her hand down. Wasting no time he slammed his right hand on top of the belt and shouted, "Henshin!"

Jack yelled in rage as he charged and the armor formed around him. The monkey did the same and they quickly got within arms reach of each other. He threw a wild right the monkey easily ducked under and backhanded him. Jack nearly fell from the blow but he kept his balance long enough to sink a knee into its' gut as it tried to grab him. The monkey fell to it's back and kicked him away giving itself enough space to get it's breath back. It then leaped up catching Jack by surprise and brought him crashing down on the ground. The Drakan started pounding away at his head. Jack took the blows before he could plant his left fist into its' rib cage. It stopped long enough for him to push the Drakan off.

The monkey backed up to regroup then charged again. Jack jumped and flipped over the attack, as he landed he spun around and smashed his armored forearm into its' face. Behind the helmet he grinned as he thought he saw a tooth fly out. He grabbed him by the back of the neck and forced its' head down as he brought his knee up hard. The monkey rocked back holding its' face. His advantage was short lived as the monkey suddenly swept his legs out from under him.

* * *

How was that damn metal bug stronger than last time? That question entered his mind more than once so far. That wasn't possible and once again he pushed that thought to the side. Thoughts like that would get him killed. A point proven when it got up and spun around, its right foot coming out of nowhere and connected with the left side of his face. The killer jumped at him, but he had enough of his senses intact to duck. He jumped on its' back and tried to break the Killer's neck. The metal bug was able to flip him over to the ground. It raised its' right fist and aimed it at his head. Jason was barely able to roll out of the way.

Quickly seeing an opening he rushed in and got the bug off its' feet. Putting as much into it as he could put into it Jason ran and rammed the Killer into the side of the pit. He allowed himself a small feeling of satisfaction as he heard its' breath leave it's body. Jason did everything in his power to keep his advantage and pounded the Killer into the wall. It some how was able to block one of his punches and 

grabbed his left arm. He panicked momentarily as he saw a shot aimed for his elbow and quickly freed his arm. It hit him too late that what the Killer wanted him to do as that same fist smashed him in the face. How did that damn metal bug get stronger than last time?

* * *

Despite her better judgment Rachel opened her eyes and watched what was going on. This entire mess was almost as savage as the last time Jack and the monkey got there hands on each other. Last time she convinced herself that she stayed because she was Jack's mission operator. Now her concern for his well being made her stay this time. Deep down she realized that was the real reason she stayed that time too.

Jack ducked down and grabbed the monkeys legs to bring it down and started pounding away at its' head. Besides here Dusty was screaming, "Come on Jack! Get that son of a bitch!". She took her eyes away just long enough to see the other Drakan's reaction to his out cry. If any of them were surprised that he was cheering for Jack they didn't show it.

Still, housing them was bad enough. There was no point in adding fuel to the fire. "Dusty calm down. You were against this too."

"I know darlin', but if he's responsible for Jack being turned into what he is than he got what he has coming."

No matter how hard she tried she couldn't come up with an argument against it. Almost silently she uttered, "Come on Jack."

* * *

Melissa spent what little time she had before this to steady herself. The wave of hatred from their previous encounter was evident and she needed to brace herself for it this time. Still she was getting sick to her stomach from it. Davidson and Jason were down there trying to tear each other apart and neither of them seeming to care. What was making her sicker was the fact some in the crowd was actually enjoying the debacle. She tried to calm herself and felt a hand on her shoulder. Emily's touch was able to calm her slightly, something she was grateful for at the moment.

Lance eyes never left the pit. "I never expected anything like this." Davidson went flying over Jason's head and landed with a thud. "I knew Davidson would be angry, but I didn't think this level was possible."

She did, she found out when Davidson saved her. In her head the Vulture had him pinned against the wall and said, "Come on Killer, you know we're exactly alike, why should we fight?"

Right before he said, "I'm nothing like you!", there was a brief spike of anger. Not as bad as when he spotted Jason in the crowd, but it was close. The vulture hit a nerve then, she realized that now. Her mind went back to the fight when Davidson caught Jason when he charge at him, spun around and planted him into the ground. A quick wave of satisfaction flowed though him. Some how Melissa doubted that she would get the feeling of regret that she got when Davidson killed the Vulture.

"I get the feeling there's more to Mr. Davidson than we know Lance."

* * *

The meter started flashing a couple of minutes ago. If he was smart he would have ended this then. But when the monkey went boom he wanted the explosion to be big. Now if only that damn Drakan would get back on its' feet. Damn it, he wanted it standing for this. Jack backed away to let the monkey get to his feet, which it was doing slowly. "Come on you ugly son of a bitch!", he yelled at the monkey. "You are not crapping out on me now!"

Anger flashed in its' eyes as the monkey swung wildly at him. Jack ducked it and grabbed the right pod as it stumbled foreword. He twisted it down and the two mini turbines in the belt started spinning and redirected the energy that had built up. Jack waited as the charged went down his leg and the monkey turned around. He launched a kick, no jumping, no flipping, nothing fancy. Just a simple straight side kick aimed right at its' head.

* * *

Jason turned around and saw the metal bug's right foot coming at him. He tried to back up to avoid it but was stopped by the wall of the pit. Little arcs of electricity could be seen on the bottom of its' foot. It was an eternity before he realized the foot wasn't coming any closer. The metal bug stood there with it's foot in the air. Jason looked at it in total confusion as its' hand slowly became a fist. Suddenly the bug yelled, brought its' foot down with a stomp and walked off. In moments the part of the floor it stomped on exploded out. Jason slumped to the floor staring at the bug, who had its' hands on it's head.

Then it looked at the ceiling and screamed. He barely registered the commotion of the Drakans around him. Jason was starting to get back to his feet when the bug turned back around, forced against the wall and stared him in the eyes. After a moment it said, "We take down Anderson then we finish this. Agreed?" In a total state of shock Jason managed to barely nod his head in agreement. The Killer let him go and walked away. Jason slumped back down to the ground.

* * *

Rachel could not believe what she just saw. After all of that he was letting the monkey go. Jack powered the system down as he came toward them. Dusty offered a hand to help him out of the pit but he ignored it. "Son, I don't get what just happened," Dusty said.

"Not now," was all he said. He wouldn't even look at them, he just stood there shaking. The other Drakan backed away but he looked like he wasn't exactly caring at the moment.

Rachel looked back at the monkey and the rest of the Drakan. He was still sitting on the ground. Some of the others around him were pointing and talking among themselves. Their leader, Melissa, was no where to be seen. "I'm not sure," she said, "but I think you just humiliated him."

Dusty said he wasn't exactly sure if she was right or not. Jack grabbed his clothes and started walking away, but she did hear him say, "Good."

* * *

Emily stood there as Melissa and Lance stared as Mr. Davidson walked out of the pit. Much like his encounter with Christopher the fates kept the outcome of this from her. But even she was surprised at this turn of events. "He just walking away?", Lance said to no one in particular. "I saw Davidson twist that thing on his belt, just like you described. He had him dead to rights. Why is he letting him go?"

Melissa stared at Mr. Davidson intently. She kept her face neutral, but she knew the child well enough to see how conflicted she was. "Like I said, there's more to him than we know."

"But why? The way those two were going at it I was positive we were going to have to bury somebody."

"Perhaps," Emily spoke, "he realized things might go smoother for him if he let Jason live."

Lance looked at her with a hint of amusement, "No offense Emily, but I highly doubt that. I don't live in this habitat but I know of Jason's reputation." He gestured at the remaining crowd as they walked away, "I'd bet you anything there be a few here that would be glad if Jason bought it just now."

"Perhaps young one," she replied. Fate might have hidden the outcome from her but she knew one thing for certain. Letting Jason live would make things harder for Davidson. The Drakan living here were nervous enough with him among them. Jason could very well use that to his advantage if he played it right. She would have to make sure she counteracted any ill will Jason could cultivate in the habitat. To them she said, "Mind reading is not one of my gifts and Mr. Davidson's thoughts are his and his alone."

"No one asking you to read his mind Emily," Melissa said, but she expected the child wished she could at the moment. "Hopefully those who would have wanted Jason dead are a very small minority and Davidson gained a point or two with the others."

"Wouldn't be much if he did kid," Lance told her.

"I know, but a girl in charge can hope right? Anything that would make the job a little easier." She attempted a smile but both of them knew she didn't feel it. "If you two will excuse me, I need to go over the sleeping quarters arrangement again. After what we just witness I think it might be a good idea if Davidson and Jason were as far a part as possible."

"Good idea, you don't want the two of them to go at it after passing each other in a hallway." Lance followed Melissa away from the hallway leading to the pit. Emily waited a few moments before leaving her own way. She heard Lance speak out loud, "But what kind of person lets the man he hates more than anything live?"

Emily smiled to herself and softly said, "A champion."

* * *

It took Rachel a couple of minutes to find Jack again. He was in some kind of storage hallway. From the look of things he was trying to get whatever they painted on him off and kicking any crate that was nearby. Jack finally saw her standing there after a few minutes. "I had him," he said, "I freaking had him! And I let him go!" Jack kicked another crate in anger, "Gah!"

Rachel sat on a crate that looked like it hasn't been abused yet, "Which begs the question, why?"

"I don't know," he said turning away from her. "Something in my head said it be better if I let him live." He pounded the wall before leaning against it, "Why did I have to listen right then?"

"I wish I could tell you."

"So do I because he's the reason why Richie is dead and I was turned into a freak."

"Jack you are not a freak," she told him. "In fact you're the most normal person I know."

Jack snorted and turned to look at her. "Now there's a laugh and a half. Normal people aren't covered in scars. Normal people don't turn into blue metal dragonflies with red eyes. Normal people don't kick or punch something and have it blow up. Me and normal parted ways a long time ago."

She just sat there and looked at him, "Do you feel any better now that you got that little rant out of your system?"

"No," he answered as he grabbed his shirt and put it on. "Thanks for listening anyway."

"What are friends for," she smiled at him. Rachel handed him his jacket as he smiled back. "But I have to admit, you do have a way to keep people guessing."

"Blame my upbringing."

"I'm telling you he's a real life Kamen Rider," a young sounding voice said. They looked down the hallway and saw a group of teenagers walk by.

"Is that part of that Power Ranger crap you keep watching?", one of the other asked.

The source of the first voice turned around and said, "For the last time it's not Power Ran... ," he trailed off when he noticed them standing there. The other turned around and stared at them with eyes wide open. Several awkward moments later the boys started running away in different direction. The one who called Jack a Kamen Rider stayed put the longest.

Rachel found the whole thing kind of amusing. Jack, on the other hand, stood there with a strange look on his face, "My God, they're every where."

"Jack we're surrounded by Drakan, they're going to be all over the place."

"That's not what I was talking about."

"Then what?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." Jack ran his fingers through his hair before putting on his jacket. "Come on, let's see if anybody brought our bags down yet."

"Dusty said he was going to get them, after he took care of something first," she told him. Rachel looked around and tried not to sigh out loud, "At least we got another roof over our head, for a little while at least."

* * *

"Both of them are staying?", Melissa asked. She wasn't sure how more surprises she could be today. The plan was for Davidson to stay here and work with them. That woman that came with them, Rachel that 

what Dusty said her name was, wasn't suppose to be part of it. Hell, Melisa didn't even know she was part of the equation.

"They're kinda a package deal little lady," Dusty told her. She would like to know exactly when he became Davidson's personal spokes man. "You get one you get the other. They've been through a lot together. Personally speaking, I wouldn't dream about splitting them up."

"That going to but us in a bit of a bind Dusty."

"Maybe," he said, "but I keep hearing how you keep getting new members to the cause. They don't seem to be hurting you too much." His tone change to something more light hearted, "Besides Rachel can be a bit of a buffer at times. Jack can take a bit of getting used too. I got a long with him just fine of course, but for somebody not as easy going as me he might be a bit much at first."

Melissa crossed her arms over her chest and smiled, "Why do I get the feeling I was just insulted."

"This old country doctor just makin' an observation, that's all," he snickered. Then he got all serious again, "But I'm trusting you to keep the two of them safe. I would really hate it if anything ever happened to them, particularly if somebody under your watch ended up doing it."

Her eyes narrowed a bit, "Are you threatening me Dusty?". She sensed no malice coming from him, but still. She couldn't remember a time were Dusty made anything even close to a threat, why now? And more importantly what would he threaten to do?

"Now, I know what you're thinking little lady and I would never do that. I'm a doctor and wouldn't turn away anybody in need of treatment. Hell, if Anderson was at my door near death I'd do everything I could to nurse him back to health. Might not make any new friends around here if I did, but that wouldn't stop me."

Al right, know she had to now, "Why are you fighting for them Dusty?"

"I consider them family to me," he said seriously.

She nodded, now she understood why he was doing this, "Then you have my word that I'll make sure none of my people will harm them. However, I can't make the same promise for my cousin."

"I wasn't expecting you too darlin'." For some reason he looked undecided on something. After a little prodding he ended up saying, "I probably shouldn't be saying this, but... Jack is going through some things."

"What kind of things?", now she knew she couldn't take any more surprises today.

"It's not my place to say, but you'll more than likely find out soon enough. He wouldn't tell me about it, and I'm not sure how much he told Rachel but I don't think it much. So I was kinda hoping Emily might be able get a word or to out of him."

"You know Emily doesn't work that way Dusty. Davidson is going to have to open himself up to her before she does anything." She suddenly remembered a part o the vision Emily had, particularly the part 

where she described Davidson. "But I'm sure Emily will be around if he needs somebody to listen." He seemed satisfied with that and left. Melissa sat back down in her chair, if only that vision Emily had let her in on what exactly was suppose to be haunting Davidson.

* * *

Jack and Rachel stood around the main area of the underground city, well calling it a city seemed a tad overkill, waiting for the person that was suppose to them to their rooms. He kept an eye on the Drakan around them. A few of them were doing their best to look like they weren't staring at them. He understood the logic behind having him here. If they were going to work together it'd be best if they were in the same place, and time could be wasted if he had to travel from Dusty place to here. Not to mention it increase the chances of World Inc. finding him if he did that. Now if he could get rid of the feeling that he just put his head on the chopping block.

"Judging by the bags I'm guessing you're the ones in need of a guide." They looked around until they saw a guy with blue dreadlocks coming toward them. Wow, how in the hell did they miss him. He looked right at Jack for a bit, "You know, I always pictured you be taller." He was so sick of hearing that. "Any way, think of me as the official welcoming committee. Just call me Sparky."

"Sparky?", Jack wondered out loud as he took the offered hand. He felt a painful jolt through the glove, "OW!" He took his hand away trying to shake away the pain.

Sparky was grinning ear to ear, "Want to guess what I am?"

"I got a pretty good idea," he said dryly. Sparky held out a hand to Rachel who politely declined.

"Hey, I never do the same trick twice in a row, and never to any one as lovely as you." Rachel blushed slightly while Jack narrowed his eyes at the Drakan. Sparky saw that and backed off. "Well, I guess you too are kind of tired, so if you will be so kind as to follow me." He led them down one of the hallways leading away from the main area. After a few yards Sparky started sniffing the air. From an upcoming corner a guy walked into view and came toward them. Jack tensed up just in case. "Hey new guy," Sparky greeted him, "how you doing? Remind me to give you the tour later." Jack and the "new guy" stared at each other as they passed. Sparky smelt him coming.

"Somebody you know?", Rachel asked.

"Never seen him before today," Sparky replied.

Jack stopped and looked back at the guy then back to Sparky a couple of times, "And he smelt like Drakan blood?" Sparky nodded and kept walking. Jack quickened his pace so he could catch up. "Wait a minute. You don't have a sudden urge to kick the crap out of him?"

"No, why should I?", Sparky asked.

"What the hell? Every time I come across a Drakan they usually want to tear me a new one."

"No offense man, but have you ever smelled yourself."

Jack straighten up a little, "Sorry, I haven't had a chance to grab a shower yet."

Their guide laughed, "That's not what I meant. Humans have a very unique smell to them. And you mix that scent with Drakan blood and it's kind of an insult to some of us."

"Do you have a problem with that mix of smells?", Rachel asked him, starting to get between them.

"Nah, I realize this is a war, death is gonna happen no matter what. Besides, I wasn't the one killed so I'm cool with the two of you. Even if I was killed it be a little late to have a problem with ya. Life's too short you know."

"Interesting way of looking at things," she said as her and Jack looked at each other confused. Sparky just talked away, telling them when breakfast, lunch and dinner usually were around here. Then they stopped in front of a door that he opened.

"And here is your humble abode." They stepped in and found a small brick walled room with hardly anything inside it. Just a single box spring and mattress and a dresser."

"Ok, where's my room?", Jack asked.

"This is your room," Sparky told him.

"Uh-oh," Rachel muttered, he was getting that same feeling.

"Then where's her room?"

"You're looking at it. We weren't expecting two of you and space is down here is at a premium."

Both of them stared at the bed in the corner. Jack raised a hand saying, "Can I get a cot or something?"

"I think I can arrange that. It should be here in a few minutes. Now you two behave yourself while you in here," he teased.

"We're just friends," they said at he same time. They looked at each other in surprise that the other one said it. Sparky grinned and left them alone. Oh this was going to be awkward.

* * *

Normally she wouldn't have done this with newcomers, but considering Davidson history it felt like a good idea to check on them. Granted she was still having some misgiving about letting the Drakan Killer in here. But as much as she hated to admit Emily visions were never wrong. Still, she'd be lucky if the whole thing didn't blow up in her face. She turned the corner leading to their room and quickly went back behind it. Davidson was leaning on the wall next to the door. What was he doing out in the hallway? Was he standing guard or something?

Then she heard it, "Come on he has to be asleep by now. We'll make him pay for all those Drakan he killed."

"What if he isn't in there?", a second voice asked.

"Then that girl probably is in there. She smells like death too, that makes her just as responsible in my book." The two of them came into this hallway and saw Davidson there.

He faced them saying, "You really might want to think twice about this." For a brief second she saw the man who saved her from the vulture in the alley. The two of them looked like they were ready to jump him.

She stepped out from hiding demanding, "What's going on here?" The two Drakan froze in place. Davidson turned his head just enough to look at her then back at them.

"Nothing going on," he lied to her. "These two were here to tell me when I can expect that cot I asked for."

She raised an eyebrow, "From my understanding it was already delivered."

"Really," he acted surprised as he opened the door. "What do you know there it is, already made up too. You guys are good." he gave them a thumbs up. "Well I guess this goodnight then," he entered and closed the door behind him. The other two were about to speak but she quickly cut them off.

"Not one word. I heard what you two were planning. I told all of you that there wasn't going to be any payback against him. If you don't like it that transfer to Lance's cell is still open. Right now I suggest the two of you get as far away from here as possible." They said nothing as they walked off. Melissa held her head and groaned, this wouldn't have happened if her brother was still alive.

* * *

Dusty told him last night that he'd be back this morning with his bike. When he asked if there was any place he could store it he was directed to a large garage looking area with various vans and cars parked inside it. There they told him if could clear out a space he could claim it for the bike. He found a spot and started clearing crates. Rachel found him after a bit and starting helping him. In no time they had a spot cleared out and were waiting. As they waited he sat next to her and said, "Rachel, I've been thinking. Maybe you should go back with Dusty when he leaves."

She looked at him suspiciously, "You trying to get rid of me again?"

"No, it just might be safer for you if you were with Dusty than with me."

"Jack, since I've been with you I've sprung my wrist, found out my boss was secretly a Drakan, became homeless and wanted by the US government. If that's the worse things that going to happen to me I'm doing pretty good. Besides I heard about what almost happened last night. Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. I think I proved that to you a couple of times already." She put a hand on his shoulder, "We started this together and we're going to finish this together." He nodded, at least he wasn't alone in all of this crap.

Dusty pulled up a few minutes later. He and Jack were able to get his bike off of Bessie in no time. "Well," he said, "I hate to drop this ride of your off and run, but I got a guy looking at an old Ford engine in an hour or so."

"Thanks Dusty," she said while she hugged him around the neck. "I know we were a bother to you."

"Now listen here little lady, you two were no such thing. Hell, this old man was grateful for the company. And you haven't seen the last of me by a long shot. I'm going to be dropping by from time to time to make sure they're treating y'all right." He got that humorous glint in his eyes again and spoke a little louder, "And they better too or I'll start charging 'em through the nose."

"Then I guess we'll be seeing you later," Jack said as he shook his hand.

"You know it son." Dusty pulled him in close, "Now you take care of yourself, and the little lady too. Ya hear me?"

"I hear you Dusty." He said his goodbyes, got back into Bessie and drove off with a wave. Jack looked over to Rachel after a bit, "I wonder when life is going to throw us that next curve ball?"


	26. Chapter 26

Episode 26

Some how he got the feeling being in the run again would have been easier on the nerves. Rachel and himself were hanging around the main area waiting. Jack was trying hard to not let the stares get to him. But it wasn't easy. For some strange reason he was reminded of high school of all places. Mainly in the way some of the guys back then looked they wanted to kick his ass. For some reason it was oddly comforting, something he was familiar with he guessed. He'd have to remember to ask Rachel about that later. "So how long are we suppose to be waiting here again?", he asked her while he leaned against a pillar.

"I have no idea," she told him. "All the guy said was that we be put to work and somebody would tell us where."

"I wonder who's gonna draw the short straw," Jack half joked. Rachel gave a small laugh anyway. Jack started feeling a small tug on his jacket.

"Excuse me," said a little girl, who looked half afraid to keep talking.

Rachel knelt down and tried to appear non threatening, "Can we help you?"

"My brother threw Polly up there." Both of them looked around until the saw a small white bear in a gutter hanging between two rafters.

"Is that Polly?" The little girl nodded. "Now that wasn't very nice of him was it?", She shook her head this time. "Don't worry we'll get Polly down for you. Jack get the bear for her."

"Why do I have to get the bear?"

"Because she asking you to," Rachel told him. The little girls eyes were pleading with him. How in the hell did his mom ever say no when he gave her that look.

"Never let it be said I left a bear hanging," he sighed. And of course there were no ladders near by so he had to do this the heard way. He tested the pillar, it seemed pretty sturdy and started climbing. Jack reached the gutter with no problem, but he got the feeling he was being watched and looked down. All the Drakan in the area was staring at him. "Does anybody else want to get the bear?", he asked the crowd. Nobody said anything so he reached over, grabbed the bear and dropped down. He dusted it off a bit and handed it back to the girl, "Here you go."

"Thank you," she said as she grabbed the bear. The girl surprised him with a quick hug before running off.

Jack started rubbing the back of his head and said, "Tell your brother I said he was a jerk." After a few moments he mumbled, "God, please don't let him be an eight foot Drakan."

"Knowing your luck he probably will be," Rachel teased him.

"You're not helping," he told her flatly.

"Well, at least that's one little girl you won't have to worry about for awhile," she said.

"I don't think here parent will be too happy about it though," Melissa said as she came up to them. Jack and Rachel looked at each other and shrugged, if they were going to be that upset that he helped her out that was their problem. "The legend of the Drakan Killer had a surprising little side effect," Melissa explained. "You basically became our new boogieman Mr. Davidson. I've heard many of the parents around here say 'Be good or the Drakan Killer will get you'. Although I don't think any of the children here thought they actually see you in person."

"Did it ever work?", Jack asked, he was curious now.

"It worked like a charm when you arrived yesterday Mr. Davidson. Before we get started is there anything I can do that will make your stay a little easier?"

"Yeah there is you high and mightiness," Jack said, "stop calling me Mr. Davidson. The last Drakan who called me that is on my ass kicking to do list." Rachel put her face in her hand and slowly started shaking her head.

Melissa crossed her arm in front of her not looking impressed, "Fine, I won't call you Mr. Davidson if you don't call me your high and mightiness, or anything else for that matter. I have a name and I prefer to be called by it."

"Same here," he told her.

"All right then. So...," she looked really uncomfortable, "Jack, is there anything else?"

"He's fine," Rachel said quickly. "We were just wondering what we could do to help out."

"I can speak for myself," Jack complained.

"I know," she replied, "that's why I spoke up." Jack stuck his tongue out at her that she ignored.

Melissa looked slightly amused at the exchange, "Well if you two will follow me I'll show you were you'll be working today."

That caught them by surprise. "We weren't expecting you to show up," Rachel said.

"I was heading that way any way and thought it would save some time," she explained.

"Makes sense," Rachel said and turned to Jack. "Let's go 'Boogie'," she snickered.

"Be careful or I'm gonna get you next," he shot back.

* * *

Melissa led them through a series of underground tunnels. Rachel thought it might be a good idea to see if they could get a map of the complex. Anybody could get lost down here if they weren't careful. Of course the fact they used to work for Anderson and World Inc. might be a problem. She and Melissa were going to have to talk about that sooner or later. "Here we are," Melissa said over what sounded like a ... waterfall? Rachel and Jack entered another huge area. The overhead lighting showed a dirt floor under their feet. That waterfall she heard turned out to be water coming from a storm drain that was over a small pond of sorts. Melissa softly said, "Emily said it was going to rain today."

Jack whistled as she said, "I wasn't expecting anything like this."

"Getting this set up was the hardest part," she told them. "It took us a while to find any usable ground under all the concrete. We got lucky that storm drain was here and not somewhere else. I have no idea how we would have transferred the water to here if it wasn't."

"You know," Jack said, "I gotta ask. How go you find a place like this to begin with?"

"By going through a lot of forgotten paperwork," she answered. "Rumor has it that all of this was supposed to be a bomb shelter of sorts during the fifties. Seeing how it wasn't on any public record we could find I'm assuming the public wasn't supposed to know about it."

"So politicians' worrying about their own skin first isn't a new thing then," Jack joked.

Melissa smiled slightly, "And you find this surprising. We expanded and rebuilt as we needed too." She looked around until she spotted somebody, "There's Frank, he's in charge of the garden center." An old bald man hobbled over to them with a cane and looked her and Jack over.

"This them?', he asked not looking at Melissa.

"Yes Frank," she said like she gone through this before.

Frank looked Jack over one more time. "He looks like a wimp to me. I'm telling you now, you work for me you're gonna work hard. And I don't want to hear any complaining, do you hear me?

Before they could answer somebody yelled out, "Comin' through!" A group of children ran through the garden center being chased by one who dropped his human disguise. They all laughed as they passed between them.

"Blasted kids!", Frank shouted as he shook his fist at them. "No manners. They wouldn't have gotten away with that when I was growing up." He walked off still mumbling but Jack kept his eyes on the children.

"Was that bug two colors?", he asked after a moment.

"Yes he was." Melissa explained further, "Some of the younger ones decided to dye parts of their skin a different color to show their devotion for the cause. We keep telling them that will make it easier for them to spot. But you know kids that age, they never listen. Hopefully they'll grow out of it sooner or later."

"Some never do," Rachel said looking right at Jack.

"Oh you're just a riot today ain't you?" She just grinned at him as he took off the jacket. "So where do we start?"

Melissa pulled her hair back in a ponytail and headed for a rack lined with gardening tool. "Usually you just pick a spot and start from there." She handed Jack a shovel while she handed Rachel a hoe and took one for herself. "We're replanting so you don't have to worry about digging anything up by accident."

"You're going to be working down here too?", Rachel asked.

"Going a little far to keep an eye on us aren't you?", Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

Melissa actually laughed this time, "We all do a turn in the garden center. Every so often I have to give somebody a long term assignment for a disciplinary problem, but that's pretty rare." She led them to a patch of dirt that looked like it hadn't been tended to yet. "We got a saying, you want to eat, you have to help grow it. Don't get me wrong we have other sources of food as well. If you noticed there no kind of livestock down here. But we grow our own produce, and what we don't use we send to the other cells."

Jack stuck his Shovel into the ground and leaned against it, "And that line gets everybody down here?"

"Well, almost everybody," she admitted. "We got a few that miss there turn down here, no matter hard some of the others try to guilt them into it."

"This is just a wild guess on my part, but hat guy with the blue hair, uh... Sparky. He's never been down here has he?"

"How did you know that?", she asked.

"Just a vibe I learned to read while growing up."

"Uncle related I'd imagine," Rachel said. Jack simply nodded.

"Well, I'm sure that's an... interesting story but..., " Melissa started.

"But we got work to do," Rachel finished for her as they started at the ground.

* * *

"There has been no sign of Davidson, Haily or Logan sir," Taylor informed him. "Davidson hasn't been in the city and so far our street teams haven't been able to get a signal from the tracker in his head. Where ever they're hiding it's keeping them pretty well protected." That was an understatement Anderson mused. His city was huge, plenty of places a person could hide. But they would find them eventually, Davidson had to slip up sometime.

"Did Dr. Parker get that new shipment yet?", he asked changing the subject slightly. They were all taken by surprise when a group of rebels intercepted the last one.

"We confirmed a successful delivery," his VP said. "Although the good doctor is still claiming Armstrong did something to it."

"The wisest decision I ever made was to keep those two separated," he said while turning his chair around to look out the window. "Did Armstrong check out?"

"We tracked Dr. Armstrong movement to a few days before the delivery was intercepted. If he was the one who warned the rebels we couldn't prove it." For the most part he was glad, Armstrong was a valuable resource, it would be horrendous if he turned traitor. But that still left a problem.

"Then there is still a leak somewhere. Tell Perez to have somebody on this full time. I want this leak, or leaks, fixed as soon as possible."

"Yes sir," Taylor responded. "Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Apparently some of the men are still trying to figure out who among them is a Drakan."

Anderson sighed, that much was to be expected. Humans could be so suspicious at times. He imagined it gave them a sense of control or something like that. He hated the fact he had to deal with them on a daily basis. "I'll talk to Perez about it. We need our men working together and not against each other if we want to control the rebels. That will be all Mr. Taylor."

"Uh sir," he said before leaving. "I was wondering, do you think it's possible that Davidson and Logan both died?"

An interesting question, one that never entered his head. Anderson looked down at the street below, like he was trying to divine an answer from the commotion that was daily life. "It's possible," he said slowly, "but something tells me Davidson is still alive. Until I see a body I will not believe otherwise."

* * *

Oh was he was going to going to be sore in the morning. They both worked in that garden center for hours. Well Mom always said good honest worked never hurt anybody. Then again she never worked underground. Both of them were thankful the time went fast and it was time to grab lunch. Melissa showed them where the eatery was, basically it was an underground cafeteria. Jack and Rachel grabbed a bowl of the stew they were serving and a warm pop. They found a table near the back nobody was using and sat across from each other. Jack had to smile as he realized what they done, "This almost seems like old times."

Rachel started grinning too, "Just don't start complaining about people taking our table this time around all right."

Jack glanced around the room, "From some of the looks they're giving us I don't think that's gonna be a problem. I'd bet you dollar to donuts that this table has unofficially been labeled as ours." Jack took a taste of the stew, "Not bad."

"I guess working for it makes it taste better," she said. Rachel sighed suddenly, "I can't believe we were talking about something that happened a few months ago as old times."

"It's only been that long?". She nodded, "Damn, I could have sworn it was longer than that." They ate in relative silence for a bit. Jack looked up at her and she started wondering if he would have made it this far without her by his side. Part of him was saying he was crazy for trying to ditch her back then. He apparently stared a little too long because she noticed.

"What is it?"

"Just thinking," he said, "nothing to worry about."

"The fact that you're thinking at all gives me cause to worry."

"Look at my side, do you see it splitting?", he told her. She started laughing and so did he. Yeah he left himself open for that one. They stopped when a young man sat at the table next to them. Normally he wouldn't have worried about it but the kid kept staring at him. Rachel was mumbling that he should ignore him but it was getting in his last nerve. "Can I help you with something?"

"I'm sorry, I just needed to talk to you." he looked around nervously before saying, "I guess I look a little different in regular light than in front of a campfire."

Jack took a long hard look at the kid, he did see him before, "Fido?"

"Jack," Rachel said in that warning tone of hers.

"It's all right, I've probably been called worse," the kid said. "My name is Arron by the way. I know you're Jack," he looked over to her," I apologize, but I don't think I ever heard your name."

"It's Rachel," she said as he nodded. The kid was acting older than he looked, must have been a green thing. "You said you wanted to talk about something."

"Well it's more of a question actually."

"Something like why you're still alive?", Jack asked for him. Arron nodded as he played with his stew. "I couldn't kill bunch of kids, simple as that."

"I'm not a kid, I just turned eighteen," he said a little too defensively. Now his age was starting to show.

"But you weren't eighteen back then were you?", Rachel said. Arron turned away embarrassed.

"Kid, you were just defending the others," Jack told him. "I was the bad guy in that situation."

"Like you were defending Rachel when it looked like I was threatening her." Jack briefly made eye contact with her as he said that. They quickly looked somewhere else, their turn to be embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything."

"Don't worry about it Fido," Jack said quickly.

"So are the other children here too?", Rachel asked changing the subject.

"No, they're safely at home now. My father doesn't exactly trust Anderson, I guess some of that rubbed off on me. So I thought the rebels might have been a better option."

"So why are you still here then?", Jack asked. "A smart person would have high tailed it out of here by now."

"I know, but I discovered I believed in their cause. I was never really comfortable with anybody doing something for me because they thought they had too. When we were brought here to wait for travel arrangements to be made I felt like I belonged. It took awhile but I was finally able to convince Christopher to let me stay, he was in charge of things before Melissa."

Jack started to play with his stew again, "We've meet."

"Everybody knows," he informed him. Arron quickly apologized, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said it like that. I have to be on guard duty soon, if you will excuse me." As he left Jack looked at Rachel then at the other Drakan. This might have gotten a little harder.

* * *

She knew the biggest challenge for this alliance would come the first time she needed Davidson for a mission. There were so many things that could go wrong it gave her a headache just thinking about it. This was the path she had chosen and it was too late to get off it now. That challenge came three days later in a the form of a letter from Lance. As she waited for the others to enter the make shift operation room they had she read the note again. Anderson had several deliveries made to a warehouse on the outskirt of the city. Surveillance equipment mainly, but there might be something else there they could use.

Rachel surprisingly entered first, alone, "Where's Jack?"

"Trying to drag Sparky away from his motorcycle," she informed her while sitting down. "I guess me or Dusty should have warned you that Jack's a little over protective of that machine."

"He wouldn't be the only one," she told her. "I've seen some of the men around here treat the cars and vans we have like babies." There was some nervous laughter and an uncomfortable silence as they waited for the others. Melissa she might as well get this over with. "So you were Jack's mission operator?" Rachel answered yes. "What exactly did you do in that position?"

"Technically I was supposed to send Jack out on his mission and monitor things from World Inc." She seemed hesitant to say, "I'd imagine you can tell I didn't exactly do that."

"From the moment I got close enough to you," she replied. "Well, actually when you were far enough away from him that I could. The smell of Drakan blood on you isn't as strong as it is for him. So what did you end up doing?"

"I accompanied him into the field. Anderson wanted a written report after every mission. That was my first major assignment and I wanted to make sure those reports were as accurate as possible."

"So you were there when Jack killed Christopher."

"No," she said.

"You just said..."

"I know, but that time was different. Jack had a bad feeling about that one and talked me into staying outside while he went in. He never told me what happened, and I asked a lot those first couple of days because he went after Anderson right after it went down." Melissa wanted to call her on a lie, but she was telling the truth. She pushed her ability as hard as she could to find the faintest hint of a lie in there. God, she wanted somebody to confirm Emily vision, somebody that wasn't Davidson. "Is that all you needed from me?"

"No, actually I had something else in mind. I need you to be his mission operator again, well it's not exactly the same job. I'm going to have to send Jack out on some missions, teamed up with my men more times than not. What I need is somebody with a level had out there with him. According to Dusty and Friedman you're the perfect person for the job.

She seemed to be taken aback, "Sure, but why me?"

"Because I'm pretty sure Jack wouldn't listen to one of my men. Or one of my men might try to antagonize him into doing something stupid. You're technically the only neutral party here. And after what happened with Christopher I don't think anybody would trust my safety out in the field." Rachel thought it over and accepted the position.

"... I'm telling you, I got some great ways to make some money with that ride of yours," Sparky was saying as he followed Davidson into the room.

"Do you ever shut up?", he snapped.

"Not when there's money involved," Arron said behind them. The two others she sent for came soon after. Davidson leaned against the wall next to Rachel as they got started. Melissa went over the letter and the basic of the job. Get in with a van, locate the surveillance equipment and anything else they could use then get out. A simple snatch and run job.

"Are there any questions?"

"How are we going to fit all of us and whatever we need without taking the time to be choosy?", one of the other asked.

"Simple," Jack spoke up, "me and Rachel follow you guys on my bike to free up some space." That caused a bit of a commotion.

"It's a trick!"

"You don't trust anybody around that bike do ya?", Sparky said with a grin after things died down a bit.

"No, I thought the lasers might come in handy," he said.

"Laser?", Melissa asked for them all. He was telling the truth.

"The KR-1000 as built in World Inc. R&D department," Rachel explained. "It looks like a regular motorcycle but the engine most definitely isn't. Not only was it designed to be the fastest thing on the road it as also built with a pair of laser for offensive purposes."

She got a way too familiar feeling from Sparky. "The fastest thing on the road you say?"

"You had to get him started didn't you," Jack said to Rachel

"You might," Melissa told him, "want to be careful in how you address your operator."

"My...," Jack was dumbfounded. "You mean she's gonna be..."

"Your boss," Rachel said while not looking at him, but she was smiling, "again."

"Well son of a bitch," Jack said as he left the room. The others followed him out.

"Rachel," she called out, "don't to enjoy this too much, huh."

"I'm very serious when it comes to my job," she told her. "But you have to admit the look on Jack face was priceless," she added before following.

"Well, Dusty did warn me about those two," Melissa said to herself.

* * *

To smooth things over with the others Sparky said he ride his bike along side them. The other two agreed but said it as on his head if they bolted. On the way there he looked over at them and yelled out that they had to race one of these days. Rachel said she was sorry she brought it up the tenth time he did it. "What were we saying the other day about old times?", he asked her after Sparky finally shut up.

"So you're alright with this then?"

"It just caught me by surprise. There's nobody else I would want for the job."

"You just took all the fun out of this, do you know that?"

"That was the idea." She slapped him lightly on the side if the helmet. In moments they reached a single story building with the familiar World Inc. logo on it. Arron and one of the other guys jumped out of the van, got the gate open and waved them through. They traveled to the back where the loading docks were. He jumped off the bike and quickly picked the lock on the door then he and Sparky went in and worked on the sliding door of the docks. The van, Arron and Rachel entered with flashlights in hand.

"Where are the guards?", Rachel asked looking around. Jack took a flashlight and looked around the ceiling and doorways. He didn't see any signs of a security system or force either.

"I got a bad feeling about this," Arron said.

"Then let's hurry up and get the stuff," Jack told him. He waved Arron over and quietly said, "Keep an eye on her, just in case." He nodded and pointed Rachel toward some crates.

"Jack give me a hand here," Sparky called out. He was working on a big crate labeled surveillance. He reached under and helped him pick it up. As they headed for the van Sparky lost his grip and his end fell to the ground. It busted open on impact but the equipment they were expecting wasn't inside. Sparky picked up a cinder block that was inside. He and Jack just looked at each other, "Oh crap."

"Check the others," the guy driving the van ordered. Jack found a couple of crowbars and tossed one to Arron. They opened five more crates, all of them had the blocks inside of them."

"Merde," Rachel muttered as the light came on and a World Inc. assault team surrounded them.

"Put your hands up now!", one of them commanded. Almost at once Arron changed into a green wolf and got Rachel into hiding. They started firing as Jack and the other dove for cover, but the driver took one to the head. Sparky turned into a blue eel with a slick looking skin as the other one turned into a red lynx and jumped the assault team. Jack took the chance and got his left arm up while he knelt behind a crate. The belt appeared and he swung it to the side and raised his right arm to his face.

"Henshin!", he shouted as he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. His body was scanned by the belt and in moments was covered by the black bodysuit and blue armor. He leaped over the crate he was hiding behind and tackled a group of them. Lucky for him the bullets ricocheted off the armor. Jack got up and came face to face with one of the troopers as he grabbed Jack by the shoulders and threw him. He crashed into the wall hard. Drakan, definitely a Drakan, "Were Rachel and Friedman the only humans there," he muttered as the trooper turned into a red praying mantis.

The Mantis went after the Lynx next as a couple of troopers got in his way. Sparky knocked them down and said, "We got to help Danny." He glanced over to where Rachel and Arron where, the trooper dropped their guns and brought out the shock sticks. Jack was started to get worried until Rachel grabbed a fire extinguisher and blinded them, giving the wolf a chance to knock them out. He didn't have to worry about them. Jack rushed ahead of Sparky and punched the mantis on the side of the head. Sparky dragged the lynx out of there saying, "Let Jack handle this guy."

"Thanks a lot Sparky," he muttered as he spun around and kicked the mantis in the gut. A shock to his his back made him fall to his knees. The lynx tackled the trooper behind him as the mantis wrapped a spiked forearm around his neck and started squeezing. Jack quickly kicked it in the gut again to make it let go and started throwing punches. It jumped up suddenly and kicked him right into Sparky. He got up and tried to run at it but the mantis grabbed the lynx and threw it at him. Sparky jumped over them and placed both hands on its' chest. The Drakan recoiled from the shock but not for long enough as it threw him into the truck parking area. Jack tackled it from behind, grabbed its' head and started pounding it into the concrete. It reached over and grabbed a cinder block and swung it into the side of his head. The damn thing didn't look that flexible as it quickly ducked out of the way. Another trooper ran in and started jabbing him with the shock stick to make him back up. Every time Jack tried to make move the bastard would shock him again. Finally he grabbed the stick and crushed it. He glared at him from behind the helmet as he grabbed him by the vest and threw him into a stack of crates.

Looking around he saw the meter start flashing as the mantis grabbed a pipe and started to stalk Sparky in the lower section of the loading bay. Jack ran in and twisted the pod down. It raised the pipe above 

it's head, going to impale Sparky, as he shouted out, "HEY!". The mantis saw him swung as Jack slid under the attack and panted his foot into its' chest. The Drakan flew back into the wall and exploded. Jack swung his legs around until he was kneeling in the upper platform and looked around. Anybody in a World Inc. uniform was down for the count so he deactivated the system. Arron and the lynx changed back into their human forms.

"Is everybody all right?" Rachel asked. Jack looked over to her and saw the vulture behind her, nobody else was seeing it. He closed his eyes and started willing it away. "Jack?", Rachel sounded concerned as she came over to him.

"Nothing broken," he said trying to hide his relief that the vulture actually went away.

"We better get out of here and tell them what happened," she said.

Sparky changed back into his human form and grabbed him by the hand. "Dude, from now on I am officially your best friend. Come to me for anything. I mean it, anything you want, no question asked. You and me are going to be inseparable"

Jack slapped his forehead and looked at her, "Just what I needed, a blue haired freak following me everywhere I go."


	27. Chapter 27

Episode 27

Melissa braced herself as she stood in front of the others, to pay their last respect for the man they lost a few hours ago. They all knew death was going to be part of the deal. But it was still hard to live with. She remembered her brother having a hard time doing this, he was never comfortable at heralding someone over to they next life. Usually because the body wasn't there, like now. Several times he didn't want to do it, but he put those feeling aside because, as he put it, some traditions shouldn't be left behind. And Melissa knew she could do no less. As she looked over the crowd she saw Haily and Davidson standing near the back of the room. They were told they could miss this seeing how they weren't Drakans. She was glad they came anyway, to at least show they were part of this as well.

"It's never easy losing one of our own," she began. "Particularly someone who was with us for a long time. He shared our joy and he shared our sorrow. All of us will feel his lose. His family and friends most of all." She was ready for the renewed wave of sadness as she was feeling it herself. "I know some of you think he was taken from us before he should have. I know this because that was my initial reaction as well. But as Emily would no doubt say, fate decides when it's our time to leave this plane of existence." There were several nods in agreement.

"Unfortunately, this life we lead proves that point, because many of our own have been lost." She resisted the urge to look in Davidson's direction, but she had a feeling several of them were. "We can take some small comfort that died wanting to better our lives and those of our children and future generations. So as we herald him into the next life let us not live in sorrow that he is gone. Instead let us live like he did, in happiness and with the hope this will soon be over." Melissa reverted to her tiger form and the others did the same. She sensed some fear from Haily and Davidson direction but it was small and understandable.

They all looked at the ceiling above them and howled. The feeling of sadness was pierced by something that took her completely by surprise. Panic... anxiety… guilt? It was almost overwhelming. She looked at the source, or she would have if he wasn't already gone. Melissa sensed the confusion from Haily as she realized Davidson wasn't there as well. "Let's...," she tried to continue, "let us hope our herald has warned his ancestors that he is coming and that he is worthy." The crowd slowly dispersed, nobody was indicating that they noticed anything was wrong as they resumed human form. She was suddenly reminded of Emily letter, she described a similar situation from her vision. She started thinking that maybe it was a mistake for him to show up for this.

* * *

Emily walked the hallways of the habitat slowly. She left before the service was over knowing what was going to happen. But she saw that the child felt it, she was caught off guard but she covered it quickly. But right now Melissa wasn't her primary concern, he was. Like she thought he ran to a corridor that was seldom used. The young man was leaning over, his hands on the wall and breathing heavily. She could still see the look of panic and confusion etched on his face. Normally she would have waited for him to come to her, but Emily saw his pain once before and didn't want him to go through this alone again. "Are you alright child?", she asked.

Davidson quickly composed himself and tried to act normally," Yeah, I'm fine. I was," he seemed lost for a second," never any good at funerals." Emily knew it was a lie but she said noting about it.

But she did say, "Few of us are."

"If you say so. Emily was it?"

"Indeed it is Jack. May I call you Jack?"

He gave her a half smile, "You can call me just about anything you want."

"I think I'll stick with Jack child," she smiled back. "I meant to introduce myself earlier but the others have kept me rather busy the past few days."

"They put you to work too?"

Emily chuckled, "Not exactly child. No, I'm more of a spiritual adviser for them around here. You could say I'm a seer. I see the future, sometimes the past and occasionally I help those who need to speak to those who have past on when the time is right." Jack expression went blank for a brief moment.

"No offense," he ended up saying, "but I never been a big believer in all of that."

"Like I said before, very few of us are. Care to walk with an old woman."

"Sure, when is she showing up?"

Emily smirked and waged her finger at him, "I see I'm going to have to keep an eye on you." Jack offered her an arm that she took and they headed down the corridor. Unlike most people he let her set the pace and the path.

After a couple of moments of silence he said, "So you have one of those...," he trailed off but he did tap the back of his head.

"Yes child, Anderson had his doctors implant it a few years ago."

"I guess you didn't see that one coming." Emily smacked his leg with her cane. "Ow, ok I had that one coming."

"Yes you did," she agreed. "And who said I didn't see it coming, as you put it."

He looked confused, "If you saw it coming..."

"Why didn't I try to avoid it," she finished for him. "I have been living for a long time child and if I have learned anything it's that fate will not be denied. If something is destined to happen to you it will happen. No matter how hard you try to fight it." She caught him looking at his left hand and his face suddenly became very sad. "The others were outrage of course. How dare he do such a thing to a seer? But very few of them did anything about it."

"Is Anderson that powerful?"

"He has the right friends and can cover his track very well. I assume he was rather upset when Dusty and the other down here developed those jamming machines."

Jack snorted, "I bet he was. I'm pretty sure I would have been caught by now if Rachel didn't figure out metal blocked this things signal."

"Your lady friend seems like a very nice person," she told him.

"She is, Rachel is one of the smartest people I know," he voice and expression lightened a bit. Emily smiled to herself.

"And you care about her."

He looked confused again, "Of course I care about her, she's my friend." Then his expression changed again and pointed a finger at her, "Whoa, wait a minute I'm stopping this right now. Dusty tried to hook us up almost as soon as we started living with him. I am not going through that again."

Emily started laughing, "Dusty always was a romantic at heart. But don't you worry child, I would never try to force you two together. If you are destined to be with each other than fate will bring you together when it's ready."

"Good thing I don't believe in fate," he said plainly and looking straight ahead.

"Yes it his," she answered with a small hint of a knowing smile. Jack caught it and gave her a strange look.

"There you are," Rachel said as she came around the corner. "What happened?"

Emily answered before he could, "it's my fault I'm afraid. I needed to go back to my room for something and I asked him form some assistance. Actually my room is a couple of corners down," she pointed her cane down the hallway behind Rachel.

"Really?", Jack asked before covering himself. "Time flies when you're having a good talk."

"Some of the other say I have a tendency to make things sound longer and harder than they actually are."

Jack looked at Rachel, "Just so you know, at no point did those words come out of my mouth."

"I'm sure you would be limping now if they did," Melissa said coming up behind them.

"Is this the after services meeting hall or something?", Jack asked.

"Not quite," Melissa said. "Actually I wanted to talk to Emily about something."

"Well then," Jack began, "I'll just let you two have that talk." He went to let go but she wouldn't let him.

"I'll have an opening to talk to you in ten minutes," she told Melissa. "Now if you'll excuse me, how often am I going to be escorted back to my room by a handsome young man?"

"Where did he go?", Rachel asked with a smile.

Jack just looked at her, "I'm rubbing off on you, you know that?"

Emily patted his arm as they continue walking, "Don't mind her child, she just jealous."

* * *

Jack took off his jacket as he entered their room and fell on the cot as soon as he got in range. It was bad enough the mission was a bust but Melissa wanted to that heralding thing as soon as she found out they lost a man. Of course he had to freak out again for no apparent reason after hearing that howl. What in the hell was happening to him? Maybe things will be clearer in the morning, if he got any sleep that is. Stupid nightmares.

Rachel came in shortly after and saw him there. He said nothing, just staring at the ceiling. She sat on her bed asking, "So what really happened?"

"I was walking Emily back to her room. We already went over this."

"I might buy that, except I saw her leave after you were already gone. Jack you have to talk to me. I want to try to help if anything bothering you."

"There's nothing to talk about," he said flatly.

"I guess that's why you keep waking up in the middle of the night screaming," she shot back. He said nothing. Rachel sighed as he started unbuttoning her blouse. Then she looked at him, "Do you mind?", she said with a bit of annoyance.

He grunted as he rolled over to face the wall to give her some privacy. Finally he said, "I'd tell you if I had a problem with anything."

"I want to believe that Jack, I really do," she told him. "Unfortunately you keep waking up the neighbors and they're looking at me for answers. From what I understand a couple of them actually complained to Melissa."

"Then I'll find a muzzle tomorrow, that should make them happy."

"Jack that isn't funny." She placed a hand on his shoulder and rolled him back over to his back. She was already wearing that over sized blue T-shirt she found. "I'm starting to get worried about you."

He rose up and took her hand, "There's noting to worry about. I'm just going through a bit of a rough spot right now. I'll be over it before you and the nosy neighbors know it."

"This rough spot of yours has been going on for a coupe of month now."

"And I can handle it," he assured her. "The moment I can't you'll be the first person I talk too. I promise," he crossed his heart to prove the point. Rachel looked like she was going to keep arguing the point. "Look, we both had a long night, and I don't know about you but I'm really tired. I just want to get some sleep."

She looked unconvinced but pulled away saying, "We're not done talking about this."

"If you say so." He turned back over as she turned off the light. "Night Rachel."

"Goodnight Jack," she said back. He laid there for a long time. He doubted she understand if he did tell her.

* * *

The trap they set last night could have gone better. Yes his forces were able to eliminate one rebel, his body was in cold storage right now. Still the others that were with him escape and he had losses of his own. But there was a bit of information that intrigued him. Anderson put the tips of his fingers together as he looked at Perez. "Are your men positive he was there?"

"Unless there is a third mark one out there we don't know about who hooked up with Hailys' twin," he answered.

Anderson cocked an eyebrow, "There's no need to get sarcastic Mr. Perez."

Taylor spoke up beside him, "This does make the second reported time Davidson intentionally helped the rebels."

"Except this time our spotter seen him come in with the rebels," Perez added. "From the look of things he and the rebels might have joined forces. Of course that just my opinion sir," he said.

"And it appears your opinion might be correct Mr. Perez," Anderson agreed. "Step up your training program for the men. We're going to have to assume they're going to encounter Davidson on every mission from now on."

"Yes sir, I'll have them start immediately," he gave a quick salute and left his office.

Anderson leaned back in his chair and uncharacteristically sighed out loud. "That makes our situation that much harder. If Davidson and the rebels can learn to work as a cohesive unit we might," he held up a finger, "might mind you, have some trouble."

"I'd imagine that would depend on how much trust they were able to build between them," his VP said.

"True Mr. Taylor, very true." He thought this over, how could he use this to his benefit? "Of course I have been telling the other Alphas that the Drakan Killer was a concoction of the rebels' propaganda. They would be unintentionally supporting my claim by working with him."

"A small bright spot at least," Taylor agreed. "I'll start a contingency plan to spin this bit of information."

"Speaking of contingency plan, what is the update for Mitchell and the other mark one?"

"From the looks of thing it appears Allen's pet project is going to beat Mitchell out of the gate, to use the expression. Of course Dr. Armstrong is doing everything in his power to prove that estimate wrong."

"Of course he is," he allowed himself a small smile. "One thing bother me about this, why didn't we hear about this union before now. Christopher may have been able to convince the others to remain quiet but he is dead. Who else has the influence to keep this quiet?"

"Christopher had a sister didn't he?", Taylor asked. "Could she have convinced them?"

"Yes he did, Melissa, but she would have to be desperate to house Christopher's killer." He got up from his chair, he needed to think this over. "If anything important comes up I'll be in my personal gym. I need to relieve some frustration."

"I'll order the replacement equipment now," Taylor said.

Anderson smiled again, "Good man."

* * *

Like she expected Jack was acting like nothing happened to him. A couple of Drakan looked at him with annoyance, but he ignored them. He had another nightmare but this time he tried to cut off his initial scream. Rachel was already awake, she was expecting it. She remained motionless and watched him. Jack had sat there breathing hard then quickly turned his head around the room, almost like he was searching for something. She caught him doing that few times back at Dusty's. Mumbling something he laid back down. Rachel wasn't sure if he ever went back to sleep.

Right now he was trying to respect whatever period of mourning they had around here. Joking around only when he saw the other Drakan were. But for the most part it looked like he was trying to avoid knocking out Sparky. When that Drakan said they were going to be inseparable he meant it. A few moments after spotting them he trailed Jack just about everywhere he went in the habitat, talking his ear off. At one point she came down a hallway and saw Jack push him out of a room he was entering, "Dude a little privacy please."

"One man operation, you got it," Sparky said. "I'll be right here waiting for you."

Rachel recognized that look on Jack's face. Good thing for Sparky she just happened to be walking by. "Jack you did say you wanted to go to the garden center later right?", she asked. It looked like Jack's initial hunch was right as his blue eyes went wide. Jack saw it too.

"Yeah," he played along, "how about I meet you down there? You're coming too, right Sparky?"

"I... I..," he stammered, "I think I hear my mom calling me."

Another Drakan that was in the hallway asked, "I thought you said you mother was in Florida?"

"She yells really loud," and he was gone in a flash.

He looked at her looking very relived, "Thank you."

She smiled as she went on her way, "Any time."

Although she wouldn't say the Drakan were accepting Jack, she would say they were slowly getting use to him being there. Actually Rachel was surprised at grateful looks the parents around here were giving him. Especially when their child started to act up and get out of control and they spotted him. Most time he would do nothing and stand there, other times he wag a finger and give them a stern look before turning away smiling. He actually told her once, "You know, it's kinda fun being the boogieman."

Not that they haven't made a couple of friends down here already. Arron pretty much accepted them from the start and she was getting to know Melissa faster than she thought it would take. Then word started going around that Emily apparently had no problem with him and that warmed up some of the others. Arron and a group of the others invited them to talk in the main room after all the work was done for the day. Everything was going fine until she noticed the other Drakan becoming very quiet.

She looked around and saw the monkey, Jason, came up to them. "Steady Jack," she whispered as she put a hand on his shoulder. Jason sat on the same bench he was, making sure there was plenty of room between them. Neither of them looked at each other but she could feel the tension. Better cut off a potential brawl now, "Let's get out of here."

"Who was Richie?", he asked suddenly. Rachel didn't think it was possible but Jack tensed up even more. "The first time we fought you mentioned a Richie, who was he?"

Without any emotion in his voice he answered, "My best friend since I was three." There was a moment of silence the Jack asked, "Who was the guy you mentioned?"

"His name was Kendell, he was the spider you faced. He was my partner for a long time."

Rachel and the others looked at them, were they actually going to be civil with each other? Letting him live was one thing, but if they could actually get along it could help his acceptance with the others. That hope was dashed when Jack finally looked at Jason, disdain in his eyes. The only expression on his face was that sly half smile of his as he said, "So that's were spider monkeys come from."

"What?! Not that kind of partner...," he growled and stormed off. Jack smile grew bigger.

"Did you have to do that?", Rachel asked him wearily.

"Yes I did," he answered before heading off in the opposite direction.

Rachel sat on the bench feeling very tired. Arron put a hand on her shoulder, "I don't think those two will ever get along."

"I guess I should at least be grateful they didn't start exchanging blows on the spot."

* * *

Melissa looked around at her makeshift conference room. A few maps of the city and surrounding area, a few chairs, mainly some empty crates. It wasn't much but it suited her needs. She tried to convince Chris they needed something like this for awhile to help plan their operations. He always resisted saying it 

would make them too military like. Melissa just wished he didn't have to die in order for her to get this done. Almost as soon as she thought that Davidson and Haily walked in. Davidson slowed down as he came in with a strange look on his face as he looked around. Haily had a similar expression and said, "Déjà vu." Davidson nodded.

"Ah Jack," Melissa said, "I wanted to talk to you about something." She might as well get this over with.

Davidson got defensive rather quick, "If this is about the monkey just because I have to live with him doesn't mean I have to get along with him."

Melissa just stared at him, "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," he answered while trying to act innocent. No need in asking any more, no doubt she would hear about it later.

"No I wanted to talk to you about what happened to Christopher." His expression went blank but she could feel the turmoil inside him.

"I killed him as simple as that," was all he said.

"I realize that," she told him," But I also know there has to be more to it than that or you wouldn't have left World Inc."

"Look I realize he was your leader..."

"He was my brother," she cut him off, anger edging her voice, "and I have the right to know what happened!" Davidson and Haily looked at each other in surprise. Oh great, "And you didn't know that until now did you?"

"I'd be lying if I said we did," Haily answered.

"I'm surprised the others haven't thrown that in your face by now. But it still doesn't change the fact that I deserve to know what happened." Davidson looked hesitant to answer until he eventually sat down in one of the chairs and told her.

"Like I said I killed him," he rand his hands through his hair before continuing. "I was fighting him and his guards. After a bit ten more, I guess that's how many there were, came in to help him. They forced him to go. I jumped over them using the staff and ran after him. I hit him with the kick and he went..., "he corrected himself, "he exploded. Actually his guard tried to take the hit but he pushed him out of the way. I ran through the rest of them to grab the staff. But they didn't come after me, they surrounded what was left of him and ho...," he choked up for a moment, "howled. I had to get out of there... then...," he trailed off.

"The what?", she asked. Haily started rubbing his shoulder.

He closed his eyes and said, "Then there was a massacre. Anderson's men covered the upper area and started firing away at the remaining Drakan, they killed them all right then and there." Haily looked sick as she heard this for the first time. Melissa didn't need her gift to see how reliving this memory was 

affecting Davidson. He continued, "I went up there and grabbed the first one I could and demanded an answer. He said Anderson orders were to take out the ones I didn't get. After that I went after him." Oh God he was telling the truth, it was just like in Emily's vision. She sent those men to their death, just because she wanted to help her brother. "I'm sorry," he said softly but suddenly

Melissa needed to breath, he was being sincere. "Don't, don't be. Chris knew there was a strong possibility that he was going to die when he faced you. Th..., "she stuttered, "thank you for being honest with me." After a painful moment of silence Arron ran into the room, a panic look on his face. "What is it?"

"La...," he was breathing hard, "Lance. We just got a distress call from Lance." Davidson got to his feet looking all business. "His convoy was ambushed by Anderson's troops."

"Where is he?", Davidson asked.

"He said he was past mile marker twenty eight before we lost contact."

"I know where it is," he told them before rushing past Arron. He fixed that foil lined hood over his head. She realized he was heading for the garage. "I'll go ahead and try to help who I can. Get a party together and meet me there."

"Melissa?", Arron asked her.

She watched him, saw how determined he was. There wasn't much else she could do, "You heard the man, get a party together. And contact Dusty and tell him to expect some serious wounded, just in case."

* * *

Jack pushed the bike as hard as he could handle it. Finding out that leader he took out was Melissa's brother drove home just how much he wronged this group of people. And it was going to be a long road up hill to try to make it up to them, if he ever did. And he had to start some where. He reached mile marker twenty six and had a good long straight stretch of road in front of him. Jack raised his left arm in front of his chest to make the belt appear. Quickly he swung his arm to the side and raised his right arm, shouting, "Henshin!", he slammed his right hand on top of the belt and grabbed the handlebars of the bike. He accelerated the bike as the black body suit and blue armor formed around him. Please don't let him be too late.

He passed marker twenty seven and was coming up on twenty eight in no time. Before he knew it he came up to another apparent massacre. In the brief time he had he saw Drakan and men in World Inc. uniforms lying on the ground. The he saw a red wolverine fighting a red cat of some sort. Jack quickly realized that this plan of his had a slight problem. The cat knocked the wolverine down and Jack made his choice. He came in fast riding on his back tire and slammed the front tire into the cat. It flew back from the impact as he brought the tire down and skidded the bike to a stop. Jack got off and took the staff from its holder. He pointed it at the wolverine, who was taken aback. "Please tell me you're Lance."

The wolverine changed back into a blond long haired human. The same one he saw with Melissa, "This answer your question?"

"Right," he said as he turned toward the cat and snapped the staff to it's full length. The cat got back to its' feet as Jack charged it. The Drakan ducked the first swing easily but didn't see the back swing aimed at it's knees that tripped it in time. Jack brought the end of the staff around as he stood over it and brought the end close to its' face. "Be a good kitty or I'll spay and/or neuter you." The cat kicked him in the back and he stumbled foreword. The red Drakan kicked itself to its' feet and Jack swung the staff again. It ducked and extended the claws on its' right hand as it swiped at his chest. He went flying from the blow. Before he could regain his footing the cat pounced on him and started throwing clawing swipes at his head, knocking him senseless. On instinct he twisted the staff in the center to collapse it. The he jammed it hard into its' ribs.

The cat howled in pain and knocked the staff out of his hands. He had just enough of an opening to hit the bottom of its' jaw with the heel of his hand. Dazed, Jack had no problem pushing it off and rolling to a kneeling position. He noticed Lance just sitting there watching them. Not like he was expecting any help or anything, but at least look like you were making an effort or something dude. The cat snarled as it came at him. He dodged and grabbed the cat around the waist from behind. Grunting, Jack picked up the Drakan and threw it over his head, falling back in the process. The cat landed on the back of its' neck and was slowly getting up. When it did Jack was right there to knock it back down. He pounded away until the meter started flashing. Jack spun around and planted kick to its' gut to force it back. He twisted the pod up and the charge went up his side and down his right arm. Jack raced in and landed a straight punch to its' chest. The cat flew back and exploded. Jack stood there trying to get his breath back, another one added to the nightmare.

Deactivating the armor he removed his motorcycle helmet and walked over to Lance. They stared at each other for a few moments, Jack started smirking as he said "Not bad for a guy who you said couldn't be trusted around you guy huh?"

Lance didn't reply right away, "You didn't know which one was me did you?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders, "I was always good a fifty-fifty. According to Dusty it's the height of rudeness, but if I ever do this again somebody better tell me who turns into what before I make a huge mistake." He held out a hand for Lance. He looked at it for a moment then took it and Jack helped him up. "You all right?"

"Yeah,' he nodded."Luckily Anderson troops were only armed with stun grenades and had no idea how bad we outnumbered them. You're not bad with that staff, a little crude maybe, but not bad."

"Eh, Anderson had one of his top goons give me a few lesson. I never really paid that much attention to be honest with you." A couple of pairs of headlights could be seen coming the direction he came from. Before long a couple of old vans came to a stop and Rachel and the other piled out. "You guys missed the party."

The Drakan ignored him as the checked on the others. The relief was visible as they realized the other were alive. Rachel stood next to him, mainly to make sure he stayed out of the way. She smiled at bit at him, "You did good, you know that?"

"Was there ever any doubt?"

"With you? Always," she playfully elbowed him the ribs. He sold it before smiling back.

Lance was talking to one of the medics a little bit away from them. "Looks like her cousin tried to go for one of the big fish."

He snorted, "I don't think he considers me that big of a target." He tried to make sure they didn't over hear the conversation, they did any way. Jack and Rachel both started at him.

"Cousin?", Rachel asked. "What cousin?"


	28. Chapter 28

Episode 28

Rachel and Jack arrived back at the Habitat with the others. Almost immediately they went looking for Melissa. Both of them had a determined look on their faces. They finally found her in the main area. "Ok, remember what we discussed," she told him. "We're not gong to over react. I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why we weren't told."

"Calm, right," he said not taking his eyes off of Melissa. Rachel was starting to get worried, his guard was up again. Personally she couldn't blame him, neither of them expected to find this out.

"Jack," she grabbed his arm, "do it my way. There's no need to make a scene."

"I'm not going to make a scene. I just want some answers." She took the lead and both of them walked toward Melissa. She saw them and hurried over to them.

"Jack, Rachel," she greeted them with a huge smile. "I just got the word. Thank you Jack," she surprised him and a few of the other by hugging him, "Lance has been my friend for a long time. I don't think I could do this without him."

"Jack was glad to help," Rachel said for him. "But we kind of overheard a piece of information, and we were hopping you clarify it for us."

"Anderson's you freakin' cousin!", Jack outburst caught everybody off guard.

Melissa didn't even try to hide it, "I see you found out."

Rachel grabbed his arm and turned him toward her, "I thought we agreed that we weren't going to make a scene."

"Screw that," he told her. "I want to know why I wasn't told I was in the middle of a family feud."

"If only it was actually that simple," Melissa sighed and walked away. They followed her as she continued. "Maybe this whole mess would make some kind of sense. Then again what war does? To be honest I'm surprised you two didn't find out before now. I know how the people down her loves to gossip. Maybe they were like me and were afraid of how you would react."

"Why, because you and Anderson both have people fighting your personal war?", Jack demanded.

"Again, it's not that simple." She stopped and looked like she was trying to figure the best way to begin. Melissa faced them, "You have to understand, this," she gestured toward the others, "isn't a new thing. To my knowledge there has been Drakan calling for equality between the classes for decades. If not longer. And there are those ready to beat those Drakans back down whenever they raise their heads up."

"Anderson is obviously in the latter category," Rachel said. "And you're in the former."

"Not as much as my Brother was." She looked past them, "You could see could see the way he felt at a young age."

* * *

A young boy of eight years of age was running through the halls of a mansion like house. Several people told the dark haired, blue eyed boy to watch out but he was having too much fun to listen or even care. Besides it was his house, he could run in it if he wanted too. Then he took a corner too sharply and ran into a stand holding a very old vase. He was able to catch the stand no problem. The vase, however, wobbled and fell to the ground, shattering on impact. "Crud," he said as he looked around.

He saw a broom closest and took out a broom and dustpan then started cleaning the mess. A butler in his fifties who was searching out the source of the noise found him sweeping it up. "Master Richards," he said, "let me clean that up."

"No," he said, "it's my mess Phillip. I'll clean it up."

"Listen to you servant Christopher," said another boy who was ten year old, also with dark hair. He leaned against a wall, "It is the only time somebody of his status should be listened to at any point."

"He's still a person Matthew," Christopher argued. "Even he deserves some respect."

"He's a blue," Matthew said. "He doesn't deserve anything but what we give him."

"Take that back," Christopher said walking toward him. Phillip quickly put a hand on his shoulder.

"Master Anderson is quite right young sir," he said. "I'm just a lonely blue, not much good for anything. I'm fortunate your family saw fit to give me place of employment."

"You see cousin," Matthew sneered, "even he knows how the world works. Like my Father said, why make changes to a system that still works. Even you own Father feels the same way."

Not able to contain his anger anymore he failed away with his fist and he let out a low growl. Luckily his fist connected and his cousin went down. "Master Richards!", the butler cried out as he pulled him back.

"You blue lover!", Matthew cried out as he held his cheek. He got to his feet and ran off saying, "I'm going to tell your Father blue lover!" Christopher knew he was trying to insult him. He really didn't care, he wanted to pop Matthew one for like forever.

"Oh Master Matthew," Phillip said sounding very concerned. "What is your Father going to say when he finds out about this?"

"I don't care," he said stubbornly. Actually he did, but dang it he was in the right here. It was just that everybody else was too pigheaded to realize it. He took the broom from the butler and started sweeping up the mess again.

"Master Richards that's my job."

"And I made the mess," he said a little too defiantly. "I'm sorry Phillip, but he makes me so made sometimes."

"I can see that young sir," Phillip said with an amused twinkle in his eye. "But if you don't mind this old blue saying so, you can't let other get under your skin like that.

"Don't call yourself a blue," Christopher told him.

"But that what I am young sir, and you are a green. Mark my words Master Richards, Drakans will be following you. And not because they think they have too. No sir, they'll follow you because they'll want to, much like your father."

"I don't want to be like him," he mumbled.

"Maybe not, but you have the same charisma he has. Emily herself saw it in you. Master Anderson may have the power and money behind him, but you have that extra little something he hasn't. If you don't mind me saying so. Now give those here," he took the broom from him, "this is my place in the world and I am happy with it."

"Can I hold the dustpan for you?"

Phillip sighed, "If you wish. But we better hurry, I know your little sister has been dying to tell you about her latest visit to Emily's."

* * *

Melissa came back to her senses and saw Haily and Davidson staring at her. "No my brother and Anderson been on opposite side of this particular fence for as long as I can remember. Our parents tried to keep me out of their, and I'm quoting here, petty squabble. But I found myself seeing things as my brother did."

"So mom and pop didn't exactly go along with Christopher view on things?", Davidson commented.

"That's one way of putting it," Melissa told him. "Mom and Dad were old school all the way when it came to this."

"That had to make things interesting growing up," Haily said with a wry grin.

"Rachel you had no idea," she grinned back. "Chris wasn't the first green to think that as a child. Most parents beat it out of them. Other, like ours, waited until they grew out of it and came to their senses. Sadly most of them did grow out of it, I guess it's a part of that whole teenage rebellion thing. My parents fully expected Chris to grow of it." She smiled again, "To bad for them he never did. He was one of those rare greens that actually believed that the classes should be equal."

"Bet mom and pop wondered where they went wrong."

"Jack," Haily warned him.

"Believe it or not I heard them ask that same question more than once. Especially Dad, he didn't even bother to hide his disappointment at times. I remember being in my room and hearing the two of them argue through the walls."

"So why did you join up with your Brother if you knew what kind of commotion it was going to cause?", Haily asked.

She had to think about that one for a moment. "I guess because there were two opposing viewpoints." She tried not to laugh at the confused look on their faces. "As Emily has been found of telling me lately you need to consider all the facts before making a decision." She started walking again, "I think that's why he started searching out other Drakans that thought like him. Despite how hard my family tried to persuade him other wise."

* * *

Christopher sat in the park going over things in his mind. A couple of days out of high school and his Father was already pressing him to go to the school he wanted in order to take over the business. Too bad Christopher had other ideas about what to do with the company. He doubted his Father would be pushing him this hard if he knew what he had planned. His mood started to darken as a familiar scent reached his nose. "What do you want Matt," he asked.

Matthew sat on the bench next to him, "Must you be so familiar Christopher?"

"I can't be familiar with my own cousin?", he shot back.

"There is such a thing as being too familiar cousin. You should remember that." They sat in relative silence for a long time. "I saw you coming out of that meeting last night," he said suddenly. He grinned at his cousins' discomfort. "Really Christopher, most men have out grown the idiotic notion of equality between the classes by now."

"The only people who think it's idiotic are those too close minded to open their eyes."

"A clever comeback cousin," he joked. "Did you come up with that all by yourself? Or did these... rebels put those words in your head last night."

"Why do they automatically have to be called rebels if they don't agree with your view of things?"

"The very definition of a rebel is one who goes against society norm Christopher. Even you can't be blinded to that fact." He sat back and stretched out. "Which is what these fools exactly are, rebels to our society. No rebellion has ever won against society cousin."

Christopher looked at him, "Tell that to those who fought in the American Revolution."

Matthew laughed out loud, "Are you actually trying to compare this hiccup you're apart of to a piece of human history? You do them a disservice comparing them to that filth Christopher."

"Drakans fought in that war too Matt," Christopher corrected him.

"I realize that," he informed him. "I also realize they did so to maintain their cover." He slowly shook his head, "It still pains me that we have to hide what we really are by appearing as an obviously inferior life form."

"Sounds like you want to start a rebellion of your own," he said slyly.

"And you would say that wouldn't you cousin, and no doubt you would enjoy the bit of irony involved," he answered as he stood up. Looking around, his lip curled in disgust at all the human in this particular park. "As much as something like that appeals to me in the end I am a realist. The humans outnumber us, even a school child knows that. Any superior physical or mental advantage we might have would be negated by their sheer number. Then were would we be in the end, an exhibit in a zoo or worse." He walked away and left Christopher to alone. To himself he started saying, "But it might be time to start thinking about doing the same to these rebels."

* * *

They stopped talking as a group of kids passed. They gave him a scared look, but a few waved at him. Jack waved back with a bit of a smile. Melissa caught it and had to smile at them, "You're going to ruin your image Jack."

"The boogieman only goes after the bad kids," he informed her

"You're loving that role a little too much," Rachel told him.

"They turned me into that, well their parents did," he shrugged. "But there is one naughty 'kid' I would love to get my hands on."

"You might," Emily said coming up behind them. "When the time is right. But there is no guarantee that you'll ever battle Anderson face to face. Assuming of course child that Anderson was the kid you were talking about."

"What's the matter, can't see that coming?" Emily cane shot out and whacked him in the shin, "Ow!". Rachel put a hand to her mouth but she was still chuckling.

"Should have warned you," Melissa said. "If you're going to make comments like that you might want to invest in a good pair of shin guards."

"Anything else you forgotten to tell me that I should know about?", Jack asked while rubbing his leg.

"Melissa," Emily said, "I was asked to find you. They you need in the war room. It sounded rather important."

Melissa threw up her hands and muttered, "What did they lose now?", and walked off in a hurry.

"She is so gonna go nuts," Jack said, mostly to himself.

"If anybody knows anything about going nuts...", Rachel muttered. Before he could ask her what that meant Emily spoke up.

"The child is stronger than she think at times. Christopher would have been proud." She looked at them, "Word has it you discovered her ties to Anderson. I must say child you look rather upset," she said mainly to him.

"Yeah, well I've been kept in the dark about a lot of things since I've woke up in the middle of this crap," Jack told her. "And personally I'm getting sick of it."

"And seeing how I was the one keeping him in the dark about a few of those things I kind of understand how he feels," Rachel added

"Well let me ask you something," Emily said. "Would the two of you have done anything different if you knew Melissa and Anderson were related?" Jack and Rachel looked at each other, not sure what to say. "I thought so," Emily said after a few moments.

"Ok, maybe we wouldn't have," he admitted, "but it still doesn't explain why we weren't told."

"Perhaps she was afraid you would do something differently, maybe not agreed to this at all," she offered. "Or worse, judge her for what her family has done. I say chances are good that those thoughts crossed your minds at least once on the way back."

"Well...," Rachel started scratching the back of her head. He said nothing, it actually crossed his mind more than once.

"Trust me child," Emily leaned heavily on her cane. "I knew all three of them growing up. Anderson is nothing like his cousins, much to my relief. No, he revels in his in his status. A condition that was made worse when he started working for Allen at World Inc."

"But Allen was Andersons' vice president," Rachel said. "I might have been just in tracking but I don't think even a hostile take over would let Allen be VP of the entire company he used to run."

"Excuse me child, I meant the elder Allen, his father Harold. Anderson connected with him almost immediately, seeing how they had somewhat similar views about the growing rebel problem."

* * *

Anderson was next to Allen as they walked behind the senior Allen through the halls of his company. Harold Allen was a man with gray hair, but he kept himself in relatively good shape. He was also an alpha with some power among the other pacts. Not much but enough that the others respected him. "Bradley," he said to his son, "do you have those financial projections for the next quarter?"

"Right here sir," he said pulling a folder out of his briefcase. "If things stay the course I'm sure you'll be very happy with the projections."

"Good, good," he quickly read it over. Bradley gave him a very smug look. Anderson may have risen quickly in the World Inc. ranks and gained the senior Allen's favor, but the younger Allen was still the heir to this corporation. "Very nice Bradley, up to your usual standards." The smug look disappeared quickly as his father turned around and handed back the folder. "Mr. Anderson," Harold addressed him, "what kind of results did you get when I asked you to go over those same projections." Bradley looked betrayed, his Father didn't seem to care.

"I have them right here sir," he handed him another folder, this one was a little thicker than Allen's. "I hope you don't mind but I added a few suggestions that might keep those projections on course."

Harold Allen looked then over than looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Trying to control the future Mr. Anderson?"

"No sir, I just recognized some potential trouble areas that somebody should keep an eye on. Perhaps cut them off entirely if necessary."

He tossed glance toward his son. "You might want to pay attention to this one Bradley, he has a good head on his shoulders. You might learn a thing or two from him."

"I...," he stammered, "I have something that needs my attention." Allen looked down and walked away in a huff.

Harold looked disappointed, "I wish he had a backbone. I gave him the perfect opportunity to defend himself too. I would have been satisfied with a 'your wrong'. Anything that suggested he had some initiative." Sighing loudly he added, "Don't be surprised if something happens to sabotage your projections."

"I'm fully prepared just in case sir."

"That's why I like you Mr. Anderson, you remind me so much of myself. Walk with me." They went down the hallway passing a few people. "I hear your cousin is hanging around some unsavory elements as of late."

"Christopher has always been a bit of a black sheep in the family. His parents and myself have tried to make him see reason, but some people are just too hard headed to see things correctly."

"Hmm," he took that in. "I also believe his sister has been seen with them lately as well. What was her name again?"

"Melissa," he answered while trying to hide how shocked he was. "She... always was heavily influenced by him. I'm surprised my Aunt and Uncle let things get that far."

"Don't blame your family Mr. Anderson," he told him. "More and more of our kind have been falling for this foolish notion. The only way we can survive as a species is for tradition to be followed."

"I agree with you sir," he told him. "But I also see that some of these people won't listen to reason."

Harold sighed again, "Not this again. Mr. Anderson we can not force these people back into the right way of thinking."

"And you said yourself that there are more joining this particular cause. It must be stop before it becomes too big, at all cost if necessary. We are already secretly monitoring them, why not take that next step."

"Perhaps, but you will be hard pressed to find another alpha that would go to such length. The outrage from the other pacts would ruin whoever was involved. No, as long as I am in charge of this company that will not happen."

"If I was running this company I would take that chance."

"Then, Mr. Anderson, it is a good thing you are not in charge."

Anderson stopped walking, "Maybe it's time to change that."

Harold stopped, turned around and looked at the young man, "Are you challenging me Mr. Anderson?"

He stood a little straighter, "Yes sir I am."

The older Allen studied him for a bit. "You do realize my son, who is a few years older than you, has challenged me several times so far. Each time I turned him down."

"Yes sir I do. You said yourself a little bit ago that he had no backbone. And I think you would agree that if you did he would not give you an honorable fight." Anderson waited patiently, hoping he read this man right."

Suddenly he chuckled and muttered, "So much like myself." A little louder he said, "I accept your challenge Mr. Anderson. The arena, say two month from today. Just to give us the proper time to prepare of course."

"Agreed," he said and walked off. He tried to keep his emotions under control. He got what he wanted, a chance to be an alpha. The words of that seer came back to him, his decisions would change their world. She also said no human could stop him but his fellow Drakan could. And that included Harold Allen, so he would have to train very carefully for this.

* * *

"Whoa, wait a minute," Jack said loudly. Emily expected this type of reaction from him. "You're telling us that Anderson took over World Inc. because he beat up daddy Allen in a fight." He looked over to Rachel, "Am I the only one finding this a little hard to believe?"

Rachel crossed her arms, "This from a man who agreed to a round of Honor Combat."

"It is our way child," Emily explained. "Anything important between two Drakan, especially the two vying for the alpha position, is usually settled in this manner. Fortunately some of us have better ways to settle these things. Christopher, for example, was only considered our leader because of his conviction and belief in the cause. But some hold on to the old ways with such an iron grasp, it saddening at times."

Rachel studied her for a moment before asking, "You were there weren't you?"

"Yes child I was," she said softly. "Tradition demanded that a seer be present over such an event. To give her blessing and for honorable combat. And for a clean death."

* * *

Anderson blocked out everything except Harold Allen. Even the seers' disapproving glare did not distract him. Along with the seer Bradley Allen and Maxwell Banner were there. As were two acquaintances of his, Walter Taylor and a man from the fledgling R&D department Barry Armstrong. Witnesses to what was about to happen. Allen reverted to his green shark form, with a sizable chunk missing from the fin on the top of his head, while he changed into the green cheetah. They circled each other, growling and swiping at each other. The shark fist struck him before he could react. Anderson was forcibly turned around and went to a knee, in moments he was tasting a coppery substance in his mouth. First blood to the senior Allen. The shark smiled, almost like he smelled the blood. The cheetah jumped to his feet but held back from rushing in. Harold would expect him to rush in.

The shark nodded in approval at his restraint and they circled each other again. Anderson knew Allen had enough experience to counter his youth. He would have to bid his time. The shark kicked out a foot that the cheetah blocked. He swung a fist in retaliation that the shark took. He was taking a measure of his strength, a smart tactic. The cheetah started testing is defenses, trying to find a hint of an opening or a weakness to exploit. The shark was good at covering himself, but he saw a hint of something there. Biding his time he launched a few direct attacks with punches and kicks in various combinations and blocked when he had too. Harold Allen wasn't the alpha for nothing as he was quickly finding out. Suddenly he saw his opening and feinted to his right before launching a kick at his left side. The cheetah was shocked when the shark caught his leg and threw him to the ground. The shark jumped on top of him with his mouth wide open. The cheetah quickly got his hands up to keep from chomping down on his neck.

The shark started punching him in the side to get him to loose his grip. The cheetah was able to get his legs under the shark and pushed him off. He jumped out of the way as the shark lunged at him again. They went at each other trying to wear the other one down. The cheetah snapped off a kick that caught the shark unaware and made him stumble backwards. Seeing his chance the cheetah roared and jumped on top of him, knocking the shark to the ground. Not letting him take a breath he swiped his claws into his face repeatedly, tearing into his flesh. "I yield!," the shark said suddenly. The cheetah paused in his attack not sure what to make of this. "I yield Mr. Anderson," he repeated. The cheetah got off of him and backed away. The shark got to his knees, "The company is now yours, run it as you see fit. Hopefully you'll find time to ask me for advice from time to time."

Anderson looked him in the eyes while he said, "If we are to survive tradition must be followed." The shark eyes went wide right before his claws sliced through neck deeply, severing an artery. Anderson walked away and returned to his human form as Harold Allen lay there dying. He grabbed a towel and calmly wiped the blood from his hand.

"You killed him!", Bradley Allen shouted at him.

"Of course I did," he stated flatly, "it was a fight to the death after all, just like tradition demanded." He noticed the seer was already leaving, he would worry about her later. "It was a proper fight so control of World Inc. will be turned over to me. I will of course allow a proper period of morning so we can finalize this in a week." He looked at the witnesses that remained. Taylor and Armstrong would follow him no question about it. Allen, he would keep around. The man was no serious threat, but he respected his father. It was the least he could do. Maxwell was a different story, he was very close to the late Allen. But he was a good worker and kept to himself. As long as he followed the line he set he would keep him around. If he didn't then he would fine away to take care of him. Anderson allowed himself a small moment to reflect on things. He was in control of World Inc., now he had a way to take care of these rebels in case they got too ambitious. And he already had plans in his head in order to do so. First he was going to need an army, then take things from there.

* * *

Jack walked around trying to take in all he heard. It was late at night so he had plenty of time to reflect without being disturbed. He turned a corner and was surprised to find Melissa sitting by herself, a few empty beer cans lying on the ground by her feet. "Are you drunk?"

"Not yet," she answered, "I usually don't get tipsy until after about three beers." She did a quick recount of the empty hands. "Alright, maybe I'm a little tipsy. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not a heavy drinker. Hell this is the first time I've touched the stuff since Chris died. I've seen him a little wobbly at times when things got a little too rough. Rumor had it he had a bottle of Jack Daniels hidden around here somewhere. I think Sparky found it awhile back though. Now I'm understanding why I found him like that sometimes. Here," she tossed him a can, "sit down and share a couple of drinks with me."

"How do I know you're not trying to get me drunk and so you can have your way with me?"

Melissa tilted her head back and barked out a laugh, "Don't flatter yourself Davidson."

He turned a chair around and straddled it. "It's the blood thing right," he acted hurt.

"No, I don't do the inter species thing." She took another drink, "If the smell of blood bothered me I don't think we would have gotten as far as we did in the beginning. God, if Chris knew about some of the things I did to get us some information he would have beat my ass." She shivered in disgust for a bit before she started staring at him. "You know, before I meet you I didn't think it was possible to be grateful for somebody and hate them with everything you had at the same time. I mean I'm grateful you saved my life and all."

"But you hate me for killing your brother," he finished for her and opened his can. He took a drink before continuing, "Look, I know I'm never going to be forgiven for that. No matter how hard I try, and I don't blame you one bit. And I think I know why you kept being related to Anderson from us. I pretty sure I over reacted when I heard it. I'm just tired of feeling used."

"I don't want you to feel used Jack," she told him. "You and Rachel are free to leave any time you want. In fact you have my word that nobody from this cell will hunt you down. And anytime you need help will do what we can."

He nodded, "I said I'd help you guys and take Anderson down. I'm not backing out of that now."

She gave him a small grateful smile, "I'm glad to hear that. But I have to warn you, if we're going to take the fight to Anderson I might have to send you on jobs similar to the ones he sent you on. I don't want to, but if I want to better to the life of the ones down here I'm going to have too."

"I don't like it either," he told her, "but this is a war after all. Everybody have to do things they don't want to do."

"Then here to a quick end to this mess," she held up her beer can and Jack hit his against in a toast. Then they both took a drink at the same time. There was a better understanding between them now, he 

hoped. He wished Rachel was here to see it, she would be pleased when she found out. Now all they have to worry about was what Anderson was going to throw at them next


	29. Chapter 29

Episode 29

Their was some laughter in the air as Jack, Arron, Sparky and a couple of the others walked down the hallways of the underground habitat. Arron kept looking back at Sparky nervously but the others kept him too busy to notice. Jack raised his hand slightly to tell the young Drakan to calm down. This was going to work, they just had to keep Sparky preoccupied for a few more moments. Of course Sparky choose then to look at around. "I don't think I ever been down this way before."

"Well it's a big place," Jack said casually, "It'd be hard to know everything about it."

"Yeah," Arron agreed quickly, "I'm still finding out new things about this place."

"But I went over this place with a fine tooth comb," Sparky told them.

Jack chuckled and joked, "What, are you head of security around here or something?"

"Then we're doomed," one of the others said. Even Sparky got a good laugh out of that one.

"Nah, I was just picking out the prime make out spots down here." He shot this wry look over to Jack, "Let me know if you ever want to see that list. I'm sure the two of you are doing ok in your room and all, but sometimes you gotta sneak away in the middle of the day."

"Get your mind out of the gutter Sparky," Jack told him flatly. "Me and Rachel are just friends."

"Hopefully friends with privileges," he grinned wickedly. Jack just ignored him. "Come on man, you got needs, she got needs. Something gonna blow if something doesn't get done. Hell, I may decide I got needs."

"Careful Sparky," Arron warned him when he saw the look that momentarily crossed Jack's face.

Sparky quickly backtracked, "Just joking man. I would never do that to a good friend of mine, especially one who could blow me up. I'm just saying you guys are the only humans down here. Something is gonna happen. Unless she's into older guys and waiting for Freidman to show up.

The other shook their heads. He, on the other hand, was no longer regretting tricking Sparky like this. Jack put an arm around his shoulder and said, "It's cool, I always appreciate a good joke. Especially when I'm looking at one."

"Oh ha-ha." Things were fine until something that sounded like sounded like a waterfall could be heard. Sparky started to back up when realized where they were. "I just remembered something I gotta do."

Jack moved his arm so it was around his neck and squeezed to keep him in place, "Can't be that important if you forgot about it."

"I… I got to see what my mom wanted."

"All the way down I Florida?"

Realizing he was caught Sparky started to get desperate, "Dude don't make me shock you."

"Did you or did you not say," Jack countered, "anything I wanted no questions asked?"

Sparky quickly said, "That doesn't sound like anything I say."

"I got witnesses that say you did," Jack grinned at Arron and the others. Sparky remembered that these were the same guys on that job where Jack saved him.

Sparky shoulders slumped as he was dragged foreword, "I hate you."

"Oh you love me." They entered the garden center and saw that it was already busy. A couple of people there saw Sparky as he entered. Then they got attention of the person next to them and pointed. The blue haired Drakan started to slink back but Jack kept him in place. He looked around and called out, "Hey Frank, look who I brought with me."

"How did you get that goldbrick down here?", the old Drakan asked as he inspected Sparky. Without warning he grabbed his arm and checked out his hand. He let go in disgust as Sparky pulled away. "Just like I thought, not even a hint of an honest days work."

He tried to defend himself, "I like to think my talents lay elsewhere."

"Your 'talents' don't mean anything down here," Frank told him plainly. "You're going to work hard, just like everybody else. And every time I hear you whine I'm going to cut off one of those things call hair."

"You can't to that!", Sparky objected.

"Was that a whine?", Frank asked as he started playing with his pocket knife.

"I'm working, I'm working," Sparky grabbed a shovel and ran off.

"And I better not catch you slacking off or screwing up what we got done down here either."

Jack looked over to Arron, "Gonna be an interesting day."

* * *

"Mr. Anderson," his secretary said through the intercom, "you have a call on line four." He paused for a moment before continuing, "It's Dr. Parker sir."

Anderson sighed, "Thank you Terry." Now what was the problem? He was starting to think Allen had more of his Fathers' patients then let on. Taking a cleansing breath he hit the flashing button on the phone. "Dr. Parker," he said formally, "what can I do for you today?"

An angry voice came over the speaker, "You can fix whatever the hell is wrong in Armstrong bloody head for one."

He knew this was the reason for the call but still he hoped otherwise. "What did Armstrong apparently do now?"

"He's keeping parts from me again that's what," Parker nearly shouted. "I'm at a very critical junction. With the help of this staff you assigned to me I'm close to activating the system in this one. And I can't do that if things are missing from inventory every time there's a delivery."

"How do you know Dr. Armstrong was behind these missing items?"

"Your delivery boy said Armstrong took a couple of things, saying they were needed."

"I'll look into it Dr. Parker," Anderson said trying to sound calm

"You better do more than look into it. If you want this git done you had better do something about it."

"I said I look into it Dr. Parker," he said, "good day." Anderson ended the call before Parker could say anything else. The rebels could not have this much infighting in their ranks. He picked up the phone and dialed Taylor's office.

"Yes Mr. Anderson," he answered.

"I just got off the phone with Dr. Parker. He says Armstrong is taking things he needs from the supply trucks again. I want you to verify this before I talk to Armstrong."

"I'll get right on it. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"Actually there is something I've been meaning to inquire about. Does Rhodes know anything about the second mark one?"

Taylor thought it over for a moment, "To my knowledge he doesn't know about it, and neither does Senator Henning. Are you thinking about bringing them in on it sir?"

"No," he said while leaning back in his chair, "I feel it would be for the best if we kept them in the dark for now. Particularly the good Senator. I had enough of his saber rattling when Davidson went rouge." He smiled despite nobody could see it, "And I don't think anybody wants to hear the noise he would undoubtedly make when he finds out about this."

There was a slight chuckle on the other end, "I heard about his little outburst with Davidson. It probably would be for the best to keep him dark for as long as possible." In moments he was back to business, "I'll head to shipping and let you know what I find out as soon as possible."

"Excellent, I expect word one way or the other within the hour." Anderson had a feeling Parker accusations was right. Armstrong was less than pleased about the existence of the second mark one, and the notion that Parker was kept as head of that particular project. And he knew Armstrong well enough to not put it past him. However the big question was what was he going to do after this one was activated. He had to do something with Parker after all. And Armstrong was not going to want him coming in on his territory, so to speak. And he did not want to worry about it when they got there.

* * *

Jack finally gave in and let Sparky tell him about one of those money making ideas he had about his bike. He kinda had to, he didn't think Frank would actually cut off one of Sparky's dreads. Jack almost wished he hadn't when he heard what the Drakan had in mind. Underground street racing of all things. Jack almost immediately shot it down saying all the things that was wrong with the idea, mainly the fact he was wanted by the police.

Sparky, surprisingly enough, had a counter to that argument. One of the rebels down here, a nineteen year old with dyed red and purple hair named Angie, was a apparently a very good make up artist. Sparky had her make this heavily scarred prosthetic that would fit over his right eye, seeing how his helmet covered most of his face. Jack was amazed at how real it looked and felt. She even came up with a blond wig that had foil lined on the inside to block the bug's signal. Sparky even found a pair of contacts that would turn his eyes blue. Still Jack was saying no to the idea. Then Sparky told him, "The money you win could help us out a lot man."

Angie and a couple of others he asked confirmed what Sparky said. Finally he agreed adding, "That's hitting below the belt." Rachel was going to kill him when she found out.

Later that night Sparky lead him and two other others out of the city. Eventually they ended up at a old run down racing strip. Sparky spoke to a dirty, muscular guy at the gate who let them in. Jack kept his helmet on after they parked. The make up Angie came up with may have been good, but he wasn't taking any chances. Sparky got a big grin on his face as he looked around, "Now this is the life."

Jack tried to not let the nervousness he was feeling take over as he looked around on his own, "You sure you know these guys Sparky?"

"Never said I did," he told him. "Nobody knows anybody name. You either address them by their handle or a nickname. It's to make sure you can't point out anybody else if you're dumb enough to get caught."

"That's not helping Sparky." He looked around again, "Especially with the way some of these guys are eyeballing me."

"Don't worry about that, they're always a little wary of a new face. Never know when he going to turn out to be a cop." He scanned the crowd until he found the guy he was looking for. "Stay here, I got to get you set up for a race."

"Oh joy," he deadpanned. Jack hung back with the others and studied the other rider motorcycles. He could only imagine what some of these guys did to their rides. He was actually sitting there hoping World Inc. tech could keep up.

"Yo!", Sparky said as he ran back. "You're set up but you have to run the first race, which is like now."

"Thanks for the warning Sparky."

"Don't blame me, it was the only slot they had open."

After Sparky pointed the way Jack pulled up to what he assumed was the starting line, a faded painted strip in the road. Another guy pulled up beside him. A girl in a micro mini skirt and a very tight black shirt stood in front of them. A guy with a megaphone stood on the hood of a car and shouted, "Alright guys and girls here's our first race of the night. In lane number one, we have Turbo Lightning!" The guy revved the engines a few times to the crowd approval. "And in lane number two, we have a newbie on the field, the Masked Rider!"

Jack looked back and shot Sparky a look. He just shrugged and tried to look innocent. Jack turned his attention back to the race. Lowering the visor he muttered, "You're a dead man Sparky."

* * *

Rachel walked around the garage waiting for Jack and the others to get return. If the police or World Inc. didn't catch him she was going to wring his neck. As much as she didn't approve of the idea she didn't make that much of a fuss about it. Rachel was positive Jack would come to his senses and get out of it. Then she heard the idiot left with Sparky. What the hell was he thinking?

"I guess they're not back yet?", Melissa asked as she walked in with lance right behind her.

"No," Rachel resisted the urge to pace the floor. "I can't believe he fell for that whole 'bring in money for the group' crap," she said to nobody in particular.

"I'm afraid that's not crap," Melissa told her.

Rachel watched the doors, "Don't try to back that up."

"I'm not," she said calmly. "Rebellions don't come cheap Rachel. With all the people down here the money has to come from somewhere. If I had a choice I look at a more legal route. But as it is I can't be that choosy."

"So where do you get the income from?"

Melissa sat on a near by crate, "Before all this was dumped into my lap I learned not to ask too many question. I found my conscious let me sleep a little better at night." They were quiet for a moment before she said, "You're worried about him more than anything else."

Rachel stiffened a bit and turned away, "I would appreciate it if you didn't try to read me."

"I wasn't," she turned around to see Melissa smiling, "in fact I didn't have too."

Rachel felt her face grow warm, "He's a friend, why wouldn't I be concerned?"

Before Melissa could answer the guard by the door called out, "One coming in!" Some of the Drakan, including Melissa and Lance, got ready for a fight just in case. The door opened and an old, beat up rusted truck pulled into the garage. Rachel's mood changed as soon as she saw it.

"Dusty," she called out as the old Drakan got out of the truck. She ran over and hugged him around the neck.

"Hey there darlin'", he said as he returned the hug. "Just thought I drop by and see how you two were doing. Wasn't expecting a welcoming committee."

"Four coming in!", the guard shouted. Jack, Sparky and the other rode in.

Jack took off the helmet revealing the grin he had, "What are you doing here Dusty?"

The old Drakan took one look at the scar make up, wig and racing gear he was wearing and said, "What fool thing are you doing now?"

"Fool is the right word," Sparky frowned. "This idiot lost three races on purpose."

"I won four and you still came out ahead," Jack shot back.

"You should have won all of them. I've seen you work on that thing, you should have smoked everybody there."

"It's the art of the con," Jack argued. "You can't let the other guy know you have an edge. You got to build up to the big score. Even my Uncle knew that."

"Ain't your Uncle in jail son?", Dusty asked him.

"For something else entirely different," Jack quickly corrected him.

"Like I said," Melissa said to Rachel, "I learned not to ask too many questions."

"So I'm guessing you missed it then?", Dusty asked.

"Missed what?", Jack asked back.

"You guys were profiled on America's Most Wanted tonight," Dusty answered with a grin.

"I was on AMW?" Jack backhanded Sparky on the shoulder, "You made me miss it you idiot."

"I didn't know you were going to be on," Sparky told him.

Rachel snorted, "Like we needed a reminder that every law enforcement agency in the country is looking for us."

"Only the worst of the worst get on that show," Dusty explained. "It's kind of a sick badge of honor in a way. That's why I taped it," he grinned.

"Please tell me you brought the tape," Jack said. Dusty reached into Bessie and took out the tape. Jack jumped of the motorcycle and took it from him. "There better be a working VCR around here."

"There's one in the television room down the hall," Melissa told him. "But before you go Lance has something for you too."

"Did he tape it too?", Rachel joked.

"No," he said. "Here," he pulled out a small metal cylinder. Except for the black ring near the end it looked like his battle staff. "A small thank you for saving my butt the other day."

"Better than having somebody following you all day," Jack said. Sparky acted hurt and walked away. "So what does it do?"

"Squeeze it in the middle," Lance instructed him. Jack did so, by the black ring a small electrode popped out. "My cell lifted the idea from the shock sticks Anderson's troops carry. We had the plans for the staff for awhile now. It seemed like a natural fit."

Jack gave it a quick snap, like his with his staff the end extended a couple of feet. He turned the ring slightly and a small humming sound could be heard, "What's this for?"

"An idea we came up with," Lance explained. "That dial controls the intensity of the charge. You can either stun a person for a few minutes or do something similar to that punch or kick of yours."

"They go boom?" Lance answered with a nod. "Oy," Rachel heard him mutter as he twisted the dial back. A quick twist in the middle retracted to it's original size, just like his other one. Jack took his old one out of the holder between the handle bars and studied them. He looked at her and handed her his original staff, "Here."

"Why are you giving it to me?"

"In case we're surrounded by Anderson shock troops again."

Rachel took it then smirked, "Or I could use it to keep you in line." Much to her surprise Jack smirked too. "Go on, I know you want to see yourself on TV." What she wasn't expecting was Jack grabbing her by the hand and dragging her to watch it too.

* * *

Melissa waited until everybody entered the war room. She heard Jack and Arron talk about something. Judging from Rachel's expression it was probably about his appearance on that program. "If I can have your attention please," she addressed the room but she was looking at them. After a moment they quieted down. "Alright then, we were able to get word about a supply truck making a late night delivery. Chances are good they might be carrying things we might need."

"Did we get this from Friedman?", Arron asked.

"Not this time. Word came from one of the truck drivers, who just happen to be one of us."

"So the doc not your only mole?", Jack commented.

"Not any more," she told him. "We've been looking to get somebody else into World Inc. for a while now. Anderson has his people do some extensive background checks, so we got lucky with this one."

"Does Friedman know who he is?", Sparky asked her.

"He doesn't want to know who it is. Friedman doesn't want that info to slip incase something happens to him. And before anybody asks this person doesn't know Friedman's working for us."

"So the same thing doesn't happen," Rachel said. "Any chance this guy might try to get in a little action while he he's in there?"

"He better not," Melissa said. "I told him that his mission was to just listen. If anything goes wrong he was to cut and run and not take a hostage. Nobody wants Friedman to get caught up in the crossfire. Now," she pulled down a map of a mountain range a couple of miles outside of the city with an x marked on it, "we'll be ambushing the truck here in this wooded area. For those of you who don't know World Inc. has a testing lab in the area. A small one but it deals with some advanced equipment. This spot should be far enough away that if they called for back up we should be on gone by then. But just in case I'm putting Dusty on stand by." While she was talking she got a sense of something, but she wasn't sure what it was.

When she turned around Jack was looking at the ground and rubbing his hands together. Rachel studied him for a couple of moments then looked then glanced at the map. It looked like she put two and two together. "Jack," she whispered, "is that where it happened?" He nodded, "Do you think you can do this one?"

"I can do this," he answered.

"If there are no other questions, start getting ready and reach that point before they do." Rachel and Jack left the room quickly. When she was alone she looked at the map and tried to figure out what happened. She looked at the map of the mountain for a long time. Then it clicked, she asked Rachel about how Jack got rebuilt into what he was now. "Oh Jack," she said out loud, "I am so sorry."

* * *

Luckily the ambush spot wasn't the exact location of where it happened, but it was close enough that it made him a little uncomfortable. He kept flashing back to the explosion and the landslide that swallowed Richie. As morbid as it was at least it was taking his mind off the ghost he had been seeing, even if it was only for a moment. Rachel rubbed his shoulder lightly, trying to comfort him in a small way. "Remember," he told her, "stay back here in case the bullets start flying."

"I know," she said. "I'll even move your motorcycle behind a tree, because I don't want anything to happen to your baby," she teased. Jack gave that half grin of his.

"Hey Jack," Arron came up, "Sparky spotted the truck. Quit making out with her and come on."

Rachel stuck her tongue at him. "Can it Fido," Jack said sounding irritated. He might as well get ready too. He raised his arm across his to make the belt appear. Swinging his arm to the side and raising his right he said, "Henshin," and slammed his hand on top of the belt. The armor formed in moments and he joined the other by the roadside. He saw the headlight as soon as he got there. After double checking that it was the target they went according to the plan. Waiting for the signal Jack ran in the middle of the road in front of the truck and jumped on top of the hood. While the driver was still surprised he 

punched through the window, grabbed the steering and quickly turned it. Jack braced himself as they crashed into a tree.

Arron, Sparky and the other ran in quickly. "You alright buddy?"

"I've been in worse," he said as he jumped off the truck and looked at the mountain. Arron went to open the back of the truck and it exploded.

"Arron!", Sparky shouted out. Jack went to check on him but something caught his shoulder. He turned to see the driver turn into a red dolphin, two black beady eyes glaring at him.

"It's a trap," somebody shouted as World Inc. Shock troops piled out of the back. The dolphin punched him quickly before he could attack first. It spit out a wad of blood, it was hurt too. Good, Jack thought as he kicked it in the gut.

He got to his feet and gave a quick glance back to Arron and the others. The young Drakan was coming to his senses as Sparky and the rest held off the shock troops, good thing it wasn't that many. The dolphin grabbed him from behind and hurled him in to the truck. Ok, so it wasn't hurt that bad so he wouldn't have to worry about the kid gloves. Jack went in quick with a right cross. He grabbed it by the fin on the back of it's head and started to throw a knee. The Drakan caught the knee and tripped him down to his back. He started to get his arms up to block but the dolphin backed away. Then it ripped a huge limb from a tree, "Ah hell."

* * *

Rachel got as close as she dared to see what was happening. The moment she heard the explosion she knew something went wrong. She saw the commotion and quickly located Jack. He was busy with a red dolphin with a club of some sort. Rachel watched as he dodged the blows that he could, but he was nailed with the limb a couple of times. And the others couldn't help him at the moment. Thinking quickly she ran back to the KR-1000 and grabbed the battle staff. She raced back and was relived when she saw Jack put some distance between the two of them. "Jack!", she yelled and threw the staff at him, "Catch!"

He jumped and caught it in the air and quickly snapped it to it's full length. "Thanks, now get the hell out of here!"

She could see the others had the troops taken car of, but she did as she was told. Then she backed into something and froze. Whatever this was it was breathing, and everybody on her side was in view. She started sweating as she slowly reached into her jacket for the staff Jack gave her. She snapped it and swung at the same time. A guy in a World Inc. troop uniform caught it. She didn't have time to react or call for help as he clamped a hand around her throat and turned into something red.

* * *

The new staff was stronger than the limb the dolphin was using. He was hurting from the blows he got so far but he could still fight. Jack sidestepped a downward swing aimed at his head, then jabbed the end of the staff in it's gut. Then he turned around quickly and smashed the other end into it's face. Jack gripped the middle and squeezed and the electrode popped out. Twisting the dial all the way a loud buzz filled the air. Not wasting any time he jammed it into the Drakan's chest. It took a couple steps 

back before exploding. The meter wasn't even flashing, something seemed wrong about that. "Jack!", Arron cried out. He turned and felt his heart stop.

A red jellyfish was standing near the side of the road. It had Rachel in the air by her neck. She was hanging there limp. For a brief moment he couldn't move, he couldn't even breath, everything refused to move. Then it half dropped, half tossed her to the ground. Something in his head snapped, "RACHEL!", he yelled as he ran as fast as the system would let him. Jack slammed into jellyfish, his main concern was to get this bastard as far away from her as possible. He didn't even realized he dropped the staff as it pounded away at it's membrane like skin. The Drakan threw him off and kicked him in the head as he tried to get to his feet. Jack tried to fight him off from his back as it got on top of him. Jack reached threw the punches and grabbed it by the neck. His face was twisted in rage behind the helmet. He screamed as he threw it off of him.

The jellyfish never got another opening a Jack unleashed his fury on it. The meter flashed and he didn't even hesitate, he didn't even think as he twisted the pod down. The charge ran down his leg, "DIE!", he yelled as he back up just enough to slam a kick into it's chest. It crashed into a tree right before it exploded. He ran back to where she was and saw Rachel as still on the ground with Arron at her neck. "What are you doing to her!?"

Sparky needed help in keeping him back. "He's sucking the toxin out her. He injected her with something." Arron raised his head, spit out what was in his mouth and went back. Jack fell to his knees and put his hands on his head. How could this have happen? "Dusty on his way," Sparky said as he knelt beside him. "She's going to be alright, do you hear me? She's going to be fine."

Arron pulled away and he saw the puncture wound on her neck. "I got what I could, I think I got it all," he put a hand on the wound to stop the bleeding. "Somebody grab me the first aid kit! It's in the van."

Jack never felt so helpless before in his life, "Rachel."

"Don't worry man," Arron told him, "she's going to make it. Dusty parked about ten minutes away and he's going to fly to get here."

"You see buddy," Sparky added patting him on the shoulder, "I told you she's going to be fine."

Jack barely herd any of that, again he whispered, "Rachel."


	30. Chapter 30

Episode 30

She went in and out of consciousness, catching bit and pieces of people talking. But not enough to figure out what they were saying. She was so out of it she barely knew where she was. Then there was something, a person, by her at all times. The same one, that she was positive of. For some reason she didn't feel as scared knowing that he was there. When she finally came too she felt somebody holding her hand say, "Come on Rachel, I can't do this without you."

"J… Jack?", she said hoarsely. God her throat hurt.

"Rachel," he said quickly while he used his hand to get her hair out of her eyes. Her vision cleared enough that she could see him. Were those tears in his eyes? "Thank God you're alright."

"What's going on? What happened?", she started to sit up but he gently held her down. Good thing because her head was killing her.

"Careful, you're still going to be a little woozy."

"But what happened? I remember being in the forest."

Jack wouldn't look at her, "I didn't see him until it was too late." She remembered what happened and reached out to him.

"Jack that wasn't…," she started when he got up and headed for the door and opened it.

"Dusty!", he yelled, "Friedman! She's awake."

In moments Dusty and Friedman rushed into the room. Jack stood as Dusty took the seat he just occupied. "Hey there darlin'," he grinned, eyes filled with emotion, "you gave everybody quite a scare."

"A girl got to get some attention some how," she joked weakly.

"Ease up on the talking darlin', your neck still gonna be a little tender for a bit. Excuse me a second," he tilted her head up and removed a bandage she didn't even know was there. "I'd say that's healing rather nicely. Wouldn't you say so Dr. Friedman?"

"Oh I agree, some of your best stitch work if I do say so myself," he added with a bit of humor.

Dusty replaced the bandage and explained what was going on, "You were injected with a toxin from that jellyfish. They got most of it out of ya but there was still some in you. I called Friedman to bring a anti-toxin. You've been out for about a day or so."

"Feels like it was longer," she told him.

"Well that bastard had a pretty good grip in your neck from the look of things. That and the puncture wound gonna leave a pretty nasty bruise on your neck. Good news is it'll probably cover up that hickey Arron gave you sucking the poison out," he grinned.

"Funny," she deadpanned.

"I thought so," Friedman added, "didn't you Jack?" That's when they realized he wasn't in the room any more. "At least he would if he was here."

"Leave the boy alone," Dusty said while checking her pulse. "I think this the first time he's even left the room since we brought you back here. Give him a chance to get his head straight. From what I hear he went mid evil on the guy."

"I guess your right," Friedman conceded.

"He did what?", she asked.

"He took the bastard down darlin'." He flashed a light in her eye, "And between you and me, I don't think he's gonna feel all that bad about it either."

She sat up after Dusty gave her the ok. A familiar smell came into the room before someone walked in carrying a tray with a bowl on it. "Is that jambalaya?"

"I'm afraid it's only a box mix," the woman said as she sat the tray in front of her. Rachel looked over to Dusty wonder if it was ok for her to eat. He read her mind.

"Do you think I'm going to risk Jack kicking my tail all over this place if I say no?"

Rachel inhaled the aroma before picking up a spoon, "Guess I woke up on the right day."

"We weren't planning this today," the woman informed her. "Jack more or less begged that we have this ready for you when you woke up. He even gave me the money to buy what I needed."

"He's feeling guilty," she said. That idiot thought this was his fault, she just knew it.

"Little Lady," Dusty said, "I don't think guilt played that large part in this particular request. Now eat what you think you can. I'll be back in a couple of hours to check on you."

"Ok Dusty," she said and they left the room. She took a bite of the jambalaya, it wasn't the best she ever had, but it was still pretty good. Rachel just couldn't believe Jack went to all that trouble to get this "slop" for her. She felt herself smiling because of it.

* * *

Melissa was on her way to Jack's and Rachel's room when she heard she was up. A slight noise that sounded like sobbing caught her attention. Following it she found Jack sitting against a wall with his hand covering his eyes. He saw her and turned his face away. She found herself torn again. Part of her wanted to go over there and comfort him, but another part was reminding her that he was still her brother's killer. Melissa sat on the floor cross legged across from him and waited for him to start talking.

It took him a few minutes but he finally did, "I never came that close to losing her before. I mean there were a couple of close call but I always…", he start to choke up. "How did I not see him behind her?"

"You can't see everything Jack," she tried to comfort him. "The other said it was pretty crazy, they didn't see him either." She knew she was failing miserably. "Rachel's going to make a full recovery."

"I know I…," for the first time he looked lost. He closed his eyes, "Rachel helped me get through so much." He looked her right in the eyes, "She was the reason why I just didn't give up and turn myself in while we were on the run. I knew there'd be no guarantee they wouldn't do anything to her." She got up just long enough just to sit beside him. He seemed grateful for the gesture. "There were times I just watched her sleep, just looking so peaceful despite the crap we were in. There was this one time when she fell asleep on my shoulder and I just stared at her for a long time. I remember thinking that she looked so…" he trailed off and closed his eyes again.

"Jack," she looked at him even though he wouldn't look at her, she took his hand, "you can say it. You thought she was beautiful."

"I knew she was beautiful," he said softly, "on the inside and out. I found myself thinking about her. I was actually worried she wouldn't talk to me again after I did that race Sparky dragged me to." A little quieter he said, "I panic when I thought I wasn't going to see her again."

"Are you trying to tell me something Jack?". Melissa had an idea, but she wanted him to look her in the eyes and say it.

"I… I think I'm in…" He shook his head, "No, I'm in… I lo…," then he stopped talking and got to his feet. Melissa didn't think it was possible to clamp down on an emotion as fast as he just did. "I gotta tell Arron I'm sorry for freaking out on him."

"Does she know how you feel?", she asked as she stood up. Jack stopped and clenched his fist. She put a hand on his shoulder, "Have you told her how you felt?"

He lowered his head slightly, "I can't."

"Why can't you."

He turned around and shoved a heavily scarred right forearm in her face. With fresh tears in his eyes he snapped, "You tell me why I can't!"

Melissa put a hand on the forearm, "Do you really think she cares about this. I've seen the two of you together, she knows you more than just this."

He lowered his arm, "You don't understand."

"Help me understand then."

Jack looked at his hands, "Part of me is rebuilt and part of me has been augmented. I don't even know if I'm half human anymore. The other night when I took her by the hand to watch that tape, I realized I might be squeezing her hand too hard and not know it. Ever since the upgrade I had to think about stuff like that now."

"I think she would have said something if you were hurting her."

"I know, and the idea that she might scares the hell out of me." He gazed at the ground before looking at her, "Does this stay between you and me?"

"The only person better at keeping secrets than me is Emily," she assured him. Jack slowly nodded and went to find Arron. She continued on to check on Rachel. She found her staring at the ceiling. Knocking lightly she asked, "What some company?"

"Sure," she sat up bit. "So what's up?"

"Not much just thought I check in and see how you were doing." Melissa took the empty chair by her and looked down at the plate on the floor. "Should you be having that?"

"Jack's idea," she informed her. "Have you seen him?"

"A few minutes ago actually…"

"He's blaming himself isn't he? That idiot this wasn't his fault."

"Rachel calm down."

"Sorry, but he's got so much on his mind. I don't want him to add this too it."

"You're the one laid up in bed and you're worried about him," she chuckled. "You are a better friend than I would be."

"He's one of my closest friends right now," she blushed slightly.

Melissa raised an eyebrow, "But you want to be closer don't you?". Her face got redder, "So why don't you?"

"He probably thinks I'd be too high maintenance for it to work," she said a bit too fast. Did she realize how lame that sounded?

"Rachel you're living in what basically a sewer. High maintenance you are not."

She smiled slightly, "Maybe, but if something was going to happen it would have happen before now." Rachel lay back down, "If you don't mind I'm feeling a little tired."

"Sure Rachel, you get some rest." Rachel turned over and faced the wall as she closed the door behind her. Smiling to herself Melissa wondered how long it was going to be before one of them actually admitted how they felt to the other.

* * *

"Tell me Dr. Armstrong," Anderson said as he wiped a finger on a lab table, "What was so important that you had to take equipment off a supply shipment?" Much to his surprise Armstrong didn't try to hide his actions, not totally anyway.

"They were delicate instruments and I wasn't sure if they would survive the trip," he said.

"Allen had no apparent problem when he was alive." He enjoyed watching him squirm.

"We advanced a bit since Allen started this particular project,' he said quickly. Anderson always admired the quick thinking of this one.

"I was not aware of that," he said faking surprise. "It must be rather new equipment then."

"Yes it is, very expensive too. The bean counters complained to no end."

"Funny," Anderson slowly turned toward him, "I usually hear those complaints before the day is over. I haven't heard a peep from them concerning this equipment." Armstrong looked like he was suppressing any visible reaction, but Anderson could smell the fear coming off of him. "I realize you and Dr. Parker have some personal issues. But I will not tolerate any issue that starts involving my company."

"That second mark one should be here," Armstrong said. "Not in some storage warehouse in the middle of a pier being watched over by some drunk."

"For what it's worth Dr. Armstrong I agree with you. Unfortunately Allen set this one in motion. The second mark one wasn't in shape to be transported. And before you interrupt, may I remind you that you were reluctant to move Davidson from one floor to another while you were working on him."

"I realize that but…"

"But nothing," Anderson said with authority. "Dr. Parker will get the equipment he needs to finish the second mark one. And if I hear anything about part of the shipment being missing again," he paused and looked around the room, "I'll need to rethink who needs to be in charge of R&D."

* * *

The next day Dusty said it was alright for Rachel to walk around a bit. Jack barely left her side. From the cafeteria to the main area he was there making sure she was alright. Part of him actually felt a little better when she gave him that annoyed look of hers. "I'm not an invalid you know. I can do this on my own."

"I know, but Dusty said you were still going to be a little weak for a couple of days. I don't want you falling on your butt in front of everybody." She gave him that annoyed look again.

"Well if you insist on being here I might as well use you," she hooked her arm around his. "For support that is." Rachel looked around at the crowd and saw some of the looks they were giving him. "What did you do now?"

Should he be honest or should he lie? "Word got around quick that I went postal on that jellyfish. Some of them started looking at me as the Drakan Killer again."

"Well there went some of the work we did right out the window."

"It's a trade off I'd do again and again if I had too," he told her. She looked him with a bit of suspicion, "No joke."

"It's hard to tell you at times."

"I'm always dead serious when it comes to my friends." Rachel said nothing but she did squeeze his arm a little. He heard a grunt behind him. Jack knew he shouldn't look but he did anyway. He felt his lip start to curl in disgust when he saw the human form of the monkey standing behind him.

"How decent of you bug," he sneered.

"Jack," Rachel spoke before he could open his mouth, "I'm feeling a little tired."

He never took his eyes off the monkey, "Ok Rachel." He knew she was probably lying but the faster he got away from him the better.

"You do everything she says huh? How many of us did she you after?," he taunted. "Did she make you report back after each kill, huh? How long before she starts telling you to kill the rest of us?" Rachel started to turn and argue back but Jack stopped her.

"You're suppose to be the smart one remember?", he said without humor.

"Or maybe," he said slowly, "you're clinging to her because you know you couldn't save her." Jack stopped in his tracks, Rachel pulled him foreword. "Just like you couldn't save your other friend. Maybe you could replace her like you replaced him."

Jack turned around sharply and headed for the monkey, "You want to go you over grown chimp? Then let's go!"

"What happened to take Anderson down first then?", he sneered.

Jack's hand was already balled up and reared back ready to fly when Sparky and Arron got between them. "Calm down you too," Arron told them.

"You can't order me around you stupid green," the monkey exploded.

"He's just giving you some advice," Sparky told him. "Now you might want to follow it or I'll give you some advice of my own." He snapped his fingers, causing a little spark, "You dig?"

"Traitor," he spat and stormed off.

After he calmed down for a bit Jack went, "Sparky, that took some guts."

"I only jumped in because Arron did," he said.

"I know, just trying to make you feel better about yourself."

"Jack behave yourself," Rachel slapped him lightly on the arm.

"Hey, it's cool," Sparky grinned. "What's a little ribbing between buds." Sparky held out a fist and Jack hit it with his. "Good seeing you on your feet Rachel."

"I hear I have Arron to thank for that."

"Are you kidding?", the kid rubbed the back of his head. "If Jack didn't get that jellyfish away from you I couldn't have done anything.

"Let's just call it a team effort and leave it at that," Sparky said. "Come on kid I got to show how to pull off a basic scam. Trust me it'll fit right in with the business world."

"Still feeling tired?", Jack asked Rachel.

"A bit," she admitted. He held out his arm and she took it. "I know you wanted to tear into him. It's a good thing you didn't."

"I know," he said, "but I think I'll avoid the wait and start kicking myself now for not doing it."

* * *

Melissa called an emergency meeting in the war room. Lance had even made the trip to be there. She was not sure how they were going to take this bit of news. "Freidman," she started, "and our driver both sent something in. The driver said several delivers have been to a warehouse at the pier," she pointed it out on the map," she pointed it out on the map. "He even heard one of the scientist talk about it. Normally I wouldn't worry about it. But we got a copy of the inventory list to Friedman. He recognized several of the items." She paused to glance over to Jack, "He said the equipment that was being sent could be used to stabilize somebody hooked up to the Fusion system."

Jack stared at Rachel. "I didn't know anything about this," she told him. Melissa could tell she was telling the truth.

"Friedman told us this before," Lance said.

"We never had a definitive location before either," she told him. "If anything we can find out one way or another if Anderson creating another one."

"So we go in and blow the place to hell," Jason said.

Nathan disagreed, "No, we should make sure first. We already fell into one trap."

"A small scout party then," Lance agreed, "to make sure."

"And stop him from doing this to somebody else," Jack added darkly while staring at the back of his hand.

"Which is why I think we should just send you Jack," she told him. He started emitting a wave of uneasiness. "The way I see it you'd be the best one here to do this. You can sneak in and if you have to engage whoever inside."

"And I can determine if they are bonding Fusion system to somebody," Rachel said.

"Not his time Rachel," Jack spoke suddenly while not looking at her. She looked stunned. "Dusty said you're still going to be feeling it for a few days."

"Jack I can handle this no problem," she told him. "You need somebody out there with you who going to knows for sure."

"I'm going to have to go with Jack on this one Rachel," Melissa said. Rachel hid it well but she could sense the hurt. "Until Dusty give me the ok you stay here."

"Then how is he going to know if it's the Fusion system?", she argued.

"Well we do have these," Nathan pulled out a small earpiece with a microphone. "He can stay in contact and tell us what he's seeing." Jack took the device and gave Rachel a half grin.

"And this was the original idea when you were first assigned to me." Rachel smiled a little bit. "Ok, here's the ground rules. If I have to throw down with something no backseat fighting, you got me?"

Rachel crossed her arms and tried to look annoyed but that smile wouldn't disappear. "I'll agree to that if you watch yourself out there."

"Hey, I got me, I got the bike, and I got the boomstick what could go wrong?"

They were all confused until Rachel clued them in, "You're calling the staff Lance gave you the 'Boomstick'?"

"What am I suppose to call it, the charge staff?" Jack headed out the door with the device in his hands. He could be heard saying, "Will this go through foil?"

"Rachel can I speak to you for a minute?", Melissa said as the other exited the room. When they were alone she asked, "Are you all right with my decision?"

"No, I'm not," she admitted, "but I understand why you made it. I'm not a hundred percent and Jack doesn't need the distraction. But Jack freaked a little at the idea of another person bonded to the Fusion system. I'm not sure how he's going to react."

"Then you can talk him down through the earpiece," she told her. Melissa walked up so she was closer and said a little quieter, "I know you have feelings for him…"

"I'll do my job like a professional Melissa."

"Good," she nodded. "Not that I had any doubt I just wanted to hear it. I know we're not the closest of friends, but I hate to think I just damaged what friendship we did have."

"No harm done," Rachel assured her, "you're just doing your job."

"God, I glad to find somebody around here who actually understands that."

* * *

Jack drove off alone through the pier. He rode alone before, but this time it felt weird not to have her there with him. He made a mental note to make it up to her. Part of him realized that he just passed the area where he saw Max's ghost. No, where his imagination played a trick on him he told himself. Quickly getting that thought out of his head he slowed down so he could read the numbers on the warehouse. The one he was looking for was on the far end of the pier. He parked the bike behind some crates, removed his helmet and reached into his hood to turn the earpiece on, "Can you hear me?"

Rachel's voice came though with no problem, "Clear as a bell. What's the situation so far?"

"Not a guard that I can see. I'm heading for the front door." Jack peeked around the corner and quickly crossed the distance. "The door got a lock." Jack reached into a pocket and pulled something out.

"Alright, if I'm right it should be a palm reader or something. You're going to have to find another way in."

"I unlocked it."

"What," she was flustered, "how did…"

"It was a padlock," he told her, "my uncle taught how to pick those when I was in first grade."

"Then it might be the wrong building," he heard Lance say.

"I think it's the right place," Jack said looking around before opening the door. "Uncle Petey's first rule of locks: the more elaborate the lock the better the prize inside. Sometimes you want something simple to guard your most valuable possession."

"That and it would look out of place down there," Melissa said.

"That too," Jack quickly closed the door. The inside smelt hospital clean, so it was definitely the right place. Reaching into another pocket he pulled out a small flashlight. The first thing he found was an empty glass tube that looked like it could hold somebody his size. A chill ran down his spine as a vision of him floating in blue liquid hit him. He shook his head to get rid of that one.

"Jack," Rachel heard him grunt, "you alright."

"Yeah, I just had a flashback to something." He swung the light around the room and some paper attached to a board. Looking them over he said, "I found a blueprint from the look of it."

"Can you tell what it is?", Rachel asked.

"I'm not sure but it looks like some kind of arm." Feeling something in his gut he searched the rest of the plan. He found something in the corner that said, "Fusion System, mark one, arm, left." And he stared at his own left arm. He gulped and asked quietly, "Rachel where was I rebuilt?"

"I know what you're thinking Jack, but you're wrong. You were rebuilt in the labs at World Inc. not there. I've seen the documentation, you never left the building until after your system were activated."

"Then what the hell is this crap?"

She sighed over the line, "It sounds like they are making another one."

"Does it look like they're getting started or finishing up?", he heard Melissa ask.

He pulled away from the plans and looked around. Some of the stuff looked used but others looked brand new. "I'm not sure." Then the lights came on surprising him, "Ah hell." He turned around and saw an older man in a lab coat holding a metal flask.

"Who in the bloody hell are you?", he demanded. Then he saw the empty tube and ran over. "That green son of a bitch took 'im!". He looked over to Jack and accused, "You helped him didn't you?"

He held his arms up and backed away, "I don't know what you're talking about man."

Then the lab coat started sniffing the air, "Drakan blood. You're him ain't you? Armstrong inferior version of the mark one. Time to show that pompous ass how inferior his model is." Tentacles grew out of his face as he changed into a red octopus. Faster than Jack could react the Drakan grabbed him and threw him into the wall and he landed behind some lab equipment. "Come on you git, turn on that system and I can show him what a piece of crap he created."

Jack held the back of his head as he stood up, "I'll try not to take that personally." He brought his left arm up and brought out the belt. He swung it to the left and brought up his right arm, "Henshin!", and slammed his hand down on the belt. The armor formed around him and Jack picked up a readout machine in front of him and tossed it at the Drakan. The octopus dodged giving him the chance to jump over and get ready to fight. They circled around the tube, then Jack charged in the other direction. He caught a backhand from the Drakan and nailed it in the ribs with his fist. The he jammed his knee into it's gut, following up with a punch to the back of it's enormous head. It ducked a spin kick and stood there. Two of it's tentacle reached out and grabbed him by the wrist. "What the…?", was all he got out before it threw him into the tube.

The glass shattered on impact as he went through it. The octopus grabbed him again and hauled him up, punching away with his fist. Jack kicked his foot up and caught him in the gut again, but it didn't let go. So he grabbed back and started swinging it around into what ever was closest, lab equipment, the wall it didn't matter. It finally let go, but it head butted him. The helmet protected him from most of the blow and he backhanded the Drakan. It's tentacles flailed distracting him from the foot coming at him. Jack spun from the impact, when he turned back around a tentacle grabbed him around the neck and started squeezing. "Not bad for somebody who used to be human, but I was trained to be a warrior before the realized how smart I actually was." The Drakan threw him through the remains of the tube. He slid across the floor and hit the wall. It picked up an IV pole and turned it upside down. The octopus raised it over it's head. Jack say the intent in it's eyes, it was planning on planting that thing in his head. He slid between it's legs and the pole got implanted in the wall. "Oh bloody hell," the Drakan muttered.

Jack punched it the gut to get it to back up. Then he brought up his feet and planted them in it's chest. He heard the air leave it's body. He got to his knees and waited for it to straighten up. When it did he ran in, put his left foot on it's knee, swung his right leg up so his shin smashed into it's head. The Darkan recovered fast and slammed both it's fists into his head. He kicked back, jumped up and hit it with his fist on the way down. The meter started flashing as the Drakan started to run. He twisted the pod down and chased after it. The octopus grabbed a gurney and hurled it at him. Jack Jumped up and leaped off the gurney. He extended his right leg and his foot hit it's head. The octopus flew into a chalkboard before exploding. He deactivated the system and put his hand on his knees breathing hard. Then Rachel shouted in his ear, "…are you?! Jack come in!"

He grabbed his ear, "I'm here, stop yelling already."

"What happened, we lost the signal for a few minutes."

"I had a Drakan walk in on me and had to power up the system."

"We heard that part. Did you deactivate the system?"

"Yeah, just now," he told her.

"The suit blocking the signal for some reason. Looks like I'll be wearing that thing in the future.

"Sure, why not." He looked around the room at the mess. "Well if they were making another one I might have set them back a bit. But from the way that guy was talking it might be too late."

* * *

Anderson walked into R&D, and like he suspected the second mark one was there in the back of the room. Armstrong just stood there waiting for any reaction, no matter what it was. Anderson stared at the tube. "We have a rather unusual report that just came in," he said after a moment. "The rebels discovered the location of Dr. Parker's lab last night. It was found destroyed and the good doctor dead. Seeing how we discovered the existence of this lab a couple of months ago, how do you suppose they found out about it?"

"I'm sure I don't know sir," he said not betraying anything.

"I would imagine the most likely possibility," he looked right at him and watched him squirm, "was that word was leaked to them some how." Armstrong stammered trying to find the right excuse. He calmly walked foreword and took a file that was next to the tube. "As much as I despise the results, it did take care of a particular problem. Dr. Parker was getting a little too big for his status. The rebels, and whoever supplied them the information, actually did us a favor in that aspect." Armstrong visibly relaxed. "So how soon before this mark one is ready?"

"A few days, a week tops Mr. Anderson," Armstrong informed him.

"Excellent Dr. Armstrong. I'll let you and your," he empathized that last word, "staff get to work." Armstrong grinned and started ordering people around. Anderson studied the file in his hand then looked at the man in the tube. "Well Mr. Kingstone, R. I hope you are a more loyal operative than your predecessor was."


	31. Chapter 31

Author notes: this episodes takes place after Kamen Rider Fusion: Twin Fusion

* * *

Episode 31

"Noooo!", somebody yelled out.

Rachel woke up startled, looking around for the source of the scream. Then she realized who it was and looked over at Jack. He was sitting up in his cot breathing hard as usual. Again with that nightmare. She laid her head back down on her pillow knowing he wasn't going to talk about it. Rachel looked back at him. He swung his legs over the edge of the cot, his head down and his hands holding the back of his head. As usual he looked terrified at what he dreamt. She knew he wasn't going to talk about it, he never did. She started to ask anyway, "Jack…?"

"I'm fine," he said cutting her off. "I'm… I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," she told him bluntly. Rachel cared for Jack but this was getting out of hand.

"It's nothing alright, just let it go and go back to sleep."

"Why don't you take your own advice," she shot back. He didn't exactly argue. "And it's definitely not nothing if you keep waking up screaming every night."

"I said it's nothing," he snapped at her. "I told you that I'd tell you when I couldn't handle it."

"Oh yeah," she said sarcastically, "you're handling whatever it is great. I can't wait to see what you can't handle." He didn't reply so she laid her head back down and turned her back toward him. Rachel listened for a few moments. She heard him start moving and turned around to see him getting dressed. "Where are you going?"

"Business," was all he said as he put his shoes on.

"Business?", she asked not getting it.

"As in none of yours," he said sharply and headed for the door.

Rachel just turned back over while he left the room. If that idiot didn't want to tell her what's going on, so be it. If he wanted to suffer through this alone, then it was no skin off her nose. So what if his nightmares were slowly getting worse? So what if it got amped up since he had to…? She quickly got out of bed and pulled on her jeans and shoes and went to look for him. Seeing hardly anybody in the hallway she asked the first person she saw, "Did you see where Jack went?"

"Yeah, he stormed past me going that way," he pointed behind him. "He looked pretty pissed, you two have a fight or something?"

"Something," she said as she hurried past him. Rachel found him in no time. He didn't even look like he knew where he was going, just walking around. "Jack, wait up." He ignored her. "Would you talk to me," she said in frustration.

Suddenly he turned around and shouted, "Leave me alone!". She took a step back in surprise from his outburst. People in the room around them came out to see what was happening. Then she noticed he wasn't looking at her. Jack was looking at something to his right, but there wasn't anything there but the wall. After a moment he finally looked at her. She wasn't sure but it looked like he didn't know she was there until just now. He walked off again silently as everybody watched them. She had no idea what to make of that.

* * *

Melissa had wanted to put this off for as long as possible. She was willing to ignore him screaming in the middle of the night. Hell, she had a few nightmares recently herself. But from what the others were telling her about last night she knew she couldn't put this off any longer. Dusty told her he was going through some things, she should have pushed him a little harder for info back then. Finding him in an empty cafeteria she slowly approached him. He looked up with an annoyed look on his face, "Great, now the emotion reader wants to psycho analyze me."

"I just want to talk Jack," she said ignoring that comment. "You want to tell me what happened last night?"

"Nothing happened last night," he answered sounding even more annoyed.

"You yelled at Rachel last night. Something had to have happened."

Jack turned away looking embarrassed, "I didn't yell at Rachel."

She sat across from him, "People are telling me you did."

"Then they saw wrong," he snapped. A little more subdued he asked, "Did… did Rachel say I yelled at her?"

"No," a wave of relief washed over him, briefly covering the turmoil inside him. "She said you were yelling at something, but she was pretty sure it wasn't her. But you had to be yelling at something, so what was it."

"Nothing," repeated.

"Jack, you don't yell 'Leave me alone' at nothing."

"There was a fly buzzing my head and I got pissed," he said really sounding annoyed now. "You got an answer, are you happy now?"

"All that for a fly?", she asked not believing a word.

"I couldn't swat at it, it could have been somebody's cousin for all I knew." Now he was trying to hide behind humor. This was going no where fast. "Do you want me to apologize to Rachel in front of everybody now?"

"If you think you need to go right ahead." Jack turned his attention back to the floor. "I know we're not the best of friends, but I like to think you would trust me enough to tell me what's going on."

"There's nothing going on," he said getting up from the table and walked away from her.

Not leaving her seat she said, "You're apparently the only one who thinks so. Everybody can see something is bothering you."

He turned around and faced her, "The only thing bothering me is that nobody around here can mind their own damn business and leave me alone."

She watched him leave, the emotions coming from him were such a jumble she couldn't make sense of them. Whatever was going on was not going to be good when it finally hit the ceiling. Melissa thought back to when he first arrived. She could definitely see a difference in him as time went on. If she had to be honest she saw a difference from the first time she saw him and then. Back then she put it down to the stress of being on the run. Except he never really seemed to recover. Occasionally she saw a spark of the man who saved her, but they were getting few and far between. At the moment she was doubting if they could get him out of whatever hole he was digging for himself.

* * *

Jack sat by himself in the common area trying to fight off the tiredness he was feeling. What a joke he became over the last few months. Here he was a grown man and he was getting his ass kicked by a nightmare. He'd have no problem getting an handle on it of the damn thing stopped getting worse. Just about every Drakan he fought and killed were showing up.

And he would kill at this point if they stopped showing up when he awake. He just happened to look up and saw a blue mantis looking at him from across the way. As usual nobody else was acting like they saw him. Jack closed his eyes and willed it away. When he opened them again not only was it still there it was closer too. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hands to his face, why wouldn't they go away? This was the fifth one in the past hour and they won't go away.

"Mister Davidson?", a small voice spoke to him.

Jack opened his eye and looked up. The mantis was gone but a little girl was in it's place. Her human form shifted a bit as he startled her. "Sorry kid," he said trying to calm down. Jack recognized her and her bear from the first day he was here, "Is your brother threatening to throw Polly in the rafter again?"

"No," she answered while shaking her head.

"Was there something else you wanted then?", he asked trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"No," she repeated and retreated back a couple of steps. Ok, he failed that one.

"Then what are you doing here sweetie?". He finally got himself under control enough to sound normal. She took a couple of steps foreword.

"You looked sad," she answered.

"I looked sad?", that took him by surprise. "So you decided to come over and cheer me up?"

"Polly wanted to cheer you up."

"Oh she did?", Jack replied acting surprised. "Then you and Polly already brightened my day," he smiled at her but she didn't return it. Slowly she came foreword and put the bear in his hands, "You're giving me Polly?"

"Polly wanted to stay with you until you stopped being scared." Now she started looking upset. Yeah, this was going to work out well.

"So Polly," he said to the bear, "why did you want to stay with me?" Jack put the bear to his ear and used his finger to bob it's head up and down like it was talking. "Why yes, I am a good looking man but… what was that?" The little girl watched him intently. "Oh I see, we got to tell her." He put the bear in front of him and looked at the kid. "Polly didn't want to tell you but she's sad too."

"Why is Polly sad?".

"She doesn't want to leave you," he answered. "I don't want Polly to be sad, do you?". Jack handed the bear back to her. She looked confused but slowly took the bear back. "If Polly's happy I'll be happy."

"Ok," she said.

"Jennifer," somebody called out. A woman Jack guessed was the girl mother walked toward them. "I'm sorry she's bothering you."

"She wasn't bothering me," Jack told her. To the kid he said, "No you keep Polly safe now, you hear?".

"Ok," she said. Before she left he gave her a quick hug around the neck. When she reached her mother Jennifer put the bear to her ear. Jack had to smile as she made it's head bob. "Polly says she hopes you feel better."

"Thank you Polly," he gave her a small wave. The girl waved back and went off with her mother. "Thank you too kid," he whispered.

"Some children do have a way of brightening one's day don't they?", Emily said behind him.

Jack didn't bother turning around, "She's a sweet kid."

"She has a bright future ahead of her," she commented. "As long as nobody puts any additional roadblocks in her path."

"Is that your way of telling me to get my head back in the game?", he said sounding a little bitter.

"No child, I just know fate has a way of throwing something at you when you least expect it." He could feel her staring at him. "You should know that better than anyone."

Before he could say anything something caught his attention. An owl Drakan was sitting on one of the rafters staring at him. They were always staring. "I got to go," he said hastily as he got up and walked away. He made it to a hallway when it hit him. He felt so dizzy he had to stumbled to a wall for support as images of Drakan he fought rushed through his head, a bull, the crab, the vulture and the dolphin all came at him before they went away. Jack stayed there for a long time shaking and breathing hard. When it felt like he could move again he made sure nobody saw him spazzing out and continued on his way. "What the hell is going on?"

* * *

"Are you quite certain about this?", Anderson asked as he put down the report Perez gave him. If it was true then it was quite disturbing.

"I'm positive sir," he answered. "A mole inside the organization has been supplying information to the rebels for the past month."

"How did this supposed mole get past out background checks," he demanded. That thing was designed to keep the rebels out of his company, not let them waltz right in.

"The rebels are getting better at forging information and creating histories," Taylor answered as he put another file on his desk. While Anderson opened it and scanned the contents Taylor explained what it was. "This was a line of references given to us. When the initial calls were made the information was verified. With all of the Davidson sighting lately I had Mr. Perez do a little investigating on his own. All the numbers were traced to the same building."

"An abandoned building," Perez added.

"But why in just the past month?", Anderson asked. "Davidson appeared unannounced at our operations before. It seems to me that if we did have a mole he or she would have been here longer than a mere month."

"We did a check on everybody in the system," Perez said. "Only one person profile proved to be false. And he hired in as a trucker a little over a month ago. Now it's possible that there's another mole here, it's also possible Davidson had a pipeline to the rebels in those other cases. But this man is the only sure lead we have now," he tapped his finger on the file before him. Anderson raised an eyebrow slightly and Perez quickly removed his hand from the desk.

"And record show he was one of the drivers who hauled supplies to Parker's lab," Taylor added. "And I saw him on the docks when Armstrong went on his little tirade about the second mark one."

"So we have to take this one down now before he does us anymore harm," Perez insisted.

"I agree Mr. Perez," Anderson said thoughtfully, "but he might be able to supply us information as well."

"I'll send some men down to take him into custody now," Perez said.

"Just a moment Mr. Perez," he said. "This might also be a chance to capture a couple of rebels as well. A bit of a risk I realize, but we have an opportunity we can not pass up. Not to mention keeping any more potential conflicts from happening inside my building. We're still repairing the damage from last time."

"We could," Taylor offered, "get word to the docks of another lab we're trying to start up. And we do have some property in the industrial sector we're not currently using."

"I think I know the area he's talking about," Perez said. "If the rebels are looking for an ambush spot that would be the spot they'd be wary of."

"Unfortunately we already used the Trojan Horse with one of our trucks so they would be looking for that as well," Anderson told him. "I feel this is our best option. Have both R&D and medical involved as well. The more convincing this looks the better."

* * *

Emily wasn't surprised to hear the knock on her door. Despite her saying her door was open to always open they always knocked out of respect. Who the person was on the other side, however, took her a bit by surprise. "Rachel, please come in."

"Thanks Emily," she said. She looked a bit unsure of herself as she entered.

"What can I do for you child?", Emily asked and offered her a seat. Rachel politely declined.

"I wanted to talk to you." Quickly she added, "Not about me. God, how often do you hear that," she was flustered about something. Emily had an idea why though.

"You want to talk about Jack," Emily said sitting down. Rachel nodded, "He seems to be the topic of many conversations lately."

"I know, I was wondering if you could help."

"Do you think I can read minds child?", she asked amused.

"No," she replied quickly. "I mean… I know something wrong with Jack. There has been for a long time now. I was hoping you had some ideas on how to get him to open up and talk about it

"That is easier said than done child," she told her. "Jack is a very open person, but he keeps his pain to himself. He has gotten so used to it he can hide it at a moments notice in most cases. Earlier today he was having one of his 'episodes'. A little girl walked up to him and I could see him push his pain down so he wouldn't affect the girl."

"He can't keep doing that," Rachel said finally sitting down.

"I know child, but we can't force him either." She could tell from Rachel expression she didn't want to believe that but knew it was true. "If Jack wants you or anybody to know his pain he'll say what it is when he is ready. We have to stand by and wait until it becomes too much for him to bear on his own."

"I can't…," she corrected herself, "I don't think we should do that."

"I realize that is not the advice you were looking for child. Unfortunately that is the only answer I have for you at the moment." She looked unhappy but said nothing. Emily thought back to her vision, he was getting close to that state. Last night she had a dream of him falling, his darkest days were coming. The only real question was how far and how much of them could they save?

* * *

Jack was holding his head when Rachel found him in the garage. He was looking much worse than when she saw him this morning. Reluctantly deciding to follow Emily advice for now she tried to look normal as she walked up to him. "So this is where you been hiding," she said keeping her tone light.

He looked up and quickly glanced at his motorcycle, "I was going to work on my bike when a headache hit me."

"You want some aspirin or something?"

"I already took a couple," he said, "I'm just waiting for them to kick in"

She nodded and sat next to him, "So, do want a hand with the bike?" He looked at her like she crew a second head. "What? I'm good with my hands. You've seen me work when we were helping Dusty."

"Yeah but you never offered to help with the bike before." They looked over to the door when it flew open. Melissa and the others came through looking around, "And that can't be good."

"Jack, I know…," Melissa started before pausing. She looked at him strangely, almost like she was caught off guard. It took a moment for her to find her footing again, "I know I've been asking a lot of you lately but I think I need you for something."

"World Inc. related right?", he asked not looking at her but the ground.

"Unfortunately," she admitted, "we got word they're setting up a new lab. We don't know what it's for yet but Friedman able to get us a partial list of what being delivered."

"It's mainly medical supplies," Arron added. "We're not low on anything but it doesn't hurt to stock up. And we can spread out a lot of it to among the cells." As they continued talking Rachel watched Jack out of the corner of her eye. He put a hand to his mouth and yawned.

Sparky caught it and smirked, "We keeping you up man?"

"Yes you are," he snapped angrily. Everybody looked at him, nobody expected that reaction from him, not even her.

"Sorry man," Sparky said a bit unsure.

"We can," Melissa cautiously started, "ask somebody else if you're feeling a little under the weather."

"I can do it," he said emotionlessly.

"You don't have to do anything Jack," Rachel told him. "Nobody is going to say anything if you don't want to do one of these things." Melissa and the others agreed. Jack looked unmoved, she rubbed his shoulder. "Come on, we'll go get a late lunch or an early dinner."

Jack brushed her hand away, got up and walked away saying, "How hard can it be. Show up, find out what they're doing. Blow up whatever Drakan working for Anderson that's obviously going to be there. You work for one side they tell you to blow up Drakan. You join the other said and what do you do? Blow up Drakan. Drakan Killer R' Us, open twenty four seven." He continued his rant as he left the garage. Everybody looked at her.

"What the hell was that?", Sparky asked for them.

Rachel only had one answer for them, "I wish I knew."

* * *

They gave him a wider space than usual when he got back. Good, he wanted the extra room anyway. Rachel even decided to ride in the van for this one. He really didn't want to alienate her but he was not in the mood right now. But he did see her peek out of the van back window every so often to see if he was still there every so often. Where was he going to go if he did decide to split? Even if he did Drakan would still come after him from the whole smelling like death crap. Yeah, like he had a whole lot of options right now.

He didn't know how long it took when he got there, all he knew was that he wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. Jack took off his helmet and froze. There were Drakan all over the place. All of them staring at him. Rachel pooped out of the van and the other followed, none of them noticed. Sweat started to form on his forehead as he tried to make them go away, why wouldn't they go away? "Jack," Rachel said, now they decided to disappear, "we got to get into hiding. The truck going to be here soon. And we have no idea what building he's going to go to. Arron and a couple of others went ahead to scout things out just in case.

"Right," he replied. When she turned around he looked around quickly, not one dead Drakan was popping up. Maybe they decided to give him a break for the moment. They quickly hid the vehicles as best they could and waited. Not long afterwards a World Inc. supply truck came rolling in and stop. About then Jack realized there were an awful lot of places to hide in this place. A fact confirmed as Arron came running around the corner like a bat out of hell. "Fido get down!"

"It's a trap!", he yelled. He hit the ground as soon as some gunfire sounded. Jack, Rachel and the others looked up. There were shooters in the windows above them. The guy in the truck got out of the cab and started to run. He was in mid transformation as a bullet pierced his leg. Jack looked on horrified as he rolled on the ground clutching his leg. Then somebody dressed in World Inc. assault team gear calmly walked toward him. Jack saw Arron sniff the air in that direction., already knowing what he was going to say. "That's a Drakan! Jack you got to stop him."

He wanted to protest, but he knew he was the only one there who was technically bulletproof. "What's one more?", he muttered. Jack stood up and raised his left arm across his chest and the belt appeared. Another wave of dizziness rocked him as he struggled to stay on his feet. Images of the bat, octopus, mantis, hippo and goat raced at him so fast he couldn't react. When the dizziness faded he looked over at Rachel. He knew she was saying something but he wasn't hearing any sound come out of her mouth. Shaking his head to try to come back to his senses he got his left arm back up, swung it to the side and raised his right arm up. Before he could activate the system another wave hit him. The image wouldn't stop. A dark green tiger, a rabbit, an elephant, a frog, Max…

…Richie…

Jack slowly lowered his hand his right arm and looked at the back of his right hand as something inside of him gave away.

* * *

Rachel knew something was wrong, just by the look on his face. Before she could go to him he fell to his knees looking at the back of his hand. "Jack!", she yelled as she found her voice. Sparky looked over and saw Jack in his state and quickly helped her get him under cover. "Jack talk to me," she said as she checked him over. It didn't look like it he was hit, so what the hell was wrong with him? "Jack talk to me please," she pleaded. He just stared at the back of his hand. "We need to get out of here now," she told Sparky who didn't argue.

"We got to cut and run!", Sparky yelled. Arron put his head down for a moment before transforming into his wolf form and leaped in their direction. Sparky tossed him Jack's helmet as she and him tried to get Jack into the van. Arron jumpstarted the bike and rode out of there first with them following soon after when they got Jack aboard. As they hung on for dear life, Jack was curled up into a ball next to the van's side. Sparky crawled over and put a hand on his shoulder, "Hang in there buddy. We'll get you fixed up as soon as we can."

Rachel wished she could believe that but she tried to make sure Jack didn't have any doubts. "We'll call Dusty and Dr. Friedman. They'll help you out."

"Blood," he finally said.

The first thing she did was check him over again," Where you hit? I don't …"

"Blood on my hands," he said trembling. "Their blood, I killed them. I killed them and they won't go away." He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his head. "Make them go away."

"Jack," she said softly as tears started to form in her eyes. What was happening to him?


	32. Chapter 32

Episode 32

He stared at the report in his hands for a long time, trying to comprehend what he was reading. It was a standard ambush, everything went according to plan. They were even able to capture the mole Perez had detected. The rest of the rebels were able to get away, but the mole was the primary objective. Still there was one thing that was not making any sense. He looked at Perez, who was standing in front of his desk, from over the folder. Raising an eyebrow slightly he asked, "He dropped to the ground?"

"I saw it myself Mr. Anderson," he answered. "Davidson was midway through activating the system, then he just dropped to his knees."

"Was he hit by one of our shooters?"

"That was my initial thought too. I even had even had the men search for any trace of blood. But I knew they wouldn't find any."

"And why were you so sure of this Mr. Perez?"

"It was the way he fell sir. He didn't drop like he was shot from a bullet. He just dropped to his knees. In fact from what I saw he stared staring at the back of his hand."

"His hand," Anderson asked slowly. His head of the assault team just nodded in response. Anderson closed the report and leaned back into his chair, concentrating. What happened to Davidson? Perez coughed to get his attention. "Yes Mr. Perez?"

"I was wondering how soon until we can start interrogating the mole sir."

"Ah yes, him," he leaned foreword a bit. "I'm having medical fix up his leg a bit first. No point in giving the rebels a chance to paint us as barbaric after all. Torturing a helpless, injured captive and all that. We have a very tenuous relationship with the Drakan community as it is Mr. Perez. So don't put any undo stress on it."

"In other words," Perez stated, "don't target the wounded leg when we finally get the ok for the interrogation." For a human he caught on pretty quick.

Anderson nodded, "Exactly Mr. Perez."

"It'd be easier to get something out of him if we did."

Locking his fingers together he told him, "Think of it as an opportunity to be creative Mr. Perez. Mr. Taylor will let you know when it's your turn with the captive, so you may want to start thinking of ways of making him talk." Perez said he would and left the office and him alone with his thoughts.

Anderson stood up and faced the window behind his desk. Clasping his hands behind his back he looked at the people below. Slowly his head turned and his gaze came upon the file on his desk. Once again he was left with the question, what happened to Davidson?

* * *

"They're treating him pretty well," she heard Friedman say beside her. "Anderson ordered he be given full medical care. He actually looked really surprised he was being treated so well. Well surprised but a little cautious," he amended. Then he was quiet for a few moments. "If you want I can try to get a message to him. Security is pretty tight around him but I think I can do it without being caught."

"I appreciate the offer Dr. Friedman," Melissa said absentmindedly, not looking at him.

He nodded, "That being said, security has been amped up all over the place. You can't even walk two feet without a security guard eyeing you. Anderson sent down an order that you had to stay in your sector unless needed elsewhere. If you're caught somewhere you're not supposed to be you will be taken in for questioning. I'm not sure when I'll able to get you any information again. They found one mole, now they're shaking the place down trying to see if there is another one."

"Thank you for letting me know Dr. Friedman," she said softly, still not looking at him. "But I hope you understand if we have more than one concern at the moment." He nodded sadly and looked at the other behind them. Dusty, Lance and Sparky were looking at the same thing she was. Friedman started looking too. In front of them was a pain of glass. On the other side was a brightly lit room. Usually the room wasn't used, more times than not those who were really sick were kept in here to keep them from contaminating the others. She wished that was the case this time around, it would explain everything.

No, right now they were looking at Rachel kneeling down trying to look calm and doing everything not to freak out. She was trying to talk to Jack who was sitting as far as he could in the corner. Sweating and shaking slightly, a blank and wide eyed stare currently replacing his usual expression. Melissa had talked to just about everybody involved in the fiasco and nobody could tell her what happened. Now she had to deal with the effects of what whatever happened. Not that there weren't plenty of signs that something was wrong. But she never dreamed that something like this could happen. After a few more moments Freidman spoke up again, "Are we sure it's a good idea to let her stay in there?"

"I know where you're coming from Harry," Dusty answered him. "But right now I'm convinced Rachel's the one person he won't hurt," he paused before adding, "at the moment." She could tell how much trouble he had saying that. "Besides, it's gonna take a team of wild horses to drag her out of there."

"I've seen something like this before," Lance spoke up. "In the middle of a fight, every so often a guy just stops. There's no rhyme or reason, they just get tired of fighting. Sometimes there was a sign sometimes there wasn't."

"I think that's only part of it," Friedman said.

"I gotta agree," Dusty added. "Jack might have gotten tired of fighting, but there was something else messing around in his head long before now."

"Why did we ignore it for so long?", Melissa asked, mainly to herself.

Dusty answered anyway, "Probably because it was easier to believe it wasn't something worse than he was letting on."

As they talked Jack expression finally changed. Looking frightened for a brief moment he snapped his eyes shut and put his hands on top of his head. Slowly rocking back and forth he was muttering, "Go away. Why won't you go away?"

"Easy Jack," Rachel said in a soothing voice trying to keep him calm. "Who won't go away?" He just kept rocking. "I'm trying to help you, please tell me who won't go away."

He started hugging his knees as he opened his eyes and concentrated on a spot in the room. Finally he said, "Drakan. The Drakan I killed, they won't leave me alone. I go to asleep they're there. I stay awake they're there. I can't get away from them. There's one here now. That spider I killed in the alley, standing right there. Staring at me. That's all they do, stand there and stare. Staring right at me." The frightened look on his face slowly turned to anger as he stood and stormed across the room. To nothing but the air he screamed, "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!". Tears falling down his face and dropping to his knees he sobbed, "What do you want from me?"

Glancing over at Rachel Melissa didn't need her gift to know she was about to lose it, "Sparky…"

Nodding he entered the room in a flash. "Rachel," he said softly, "the boss needs to see you about something." She quickly left the room as Sparky sat next to Jack. "Hey there buddy, Arron wanted me to tell you that he's not letting anybody near your bike."

Rachel closed the door behind her and stood there shaking a bit. Nobody knew what to say to her. But as soon as Dusty took one step toward her she ran into his arms and started crying. "It's alright darlin'," he told here, "this is tough on everybody."

"I saw something was wrong," she said, "I should have made him talk about it."

"Now, you may have known Jack longer than I have little lady, but even I know that if you would've pushed the matter eventually he would've started pushing back."

Melissa walked over and put an arm around her and said, "We're all guilty of letting this happen. So don't go shouldering all the blame for this. Only thing we can do now is help him get out of this," silently she added, if that was possible.

"Come on little lady," Dusty said while moving her toward the other door, "Let's get you some air."

She backed away, "No I can't leave him."

"Nobody asking you too darlin'. It'll just be for a couple of minutes so you can compose yourself a bit, alright?". Reluctantly she agreed and left the room.

Melissa looked back at Jack who sat there saying, "I tried to feel guilty I really did."

Chewing on a knuckle as she heard that she mumbled, "Emily I pray this was part of that vision you had."

* * *

News of Jack's state of mind spread quickly. Sometimes she doubted she would ever stop being surprised at how fast that type of news would spread. Emily just assumed it was part of the natural behavior, Drakan or human. As she walked down the hallways she could hear them talking about him as she passed. Some came up and asked her if Jack was going to be alright. Answering them honestly she replied, "I haven't been able to see his immediate future as of yet." Some of her fellow Drakan looked depressed as she said that. A small testament to Jack's character, he was able to establish a few small friendships here and there since he's been living here. Not many, but a few. Some of the children seemed hurt by the news, especially young Jennifer who was holding her bear Polly tightly.

Of course there were those who were overjoyed at the new. Some celebrated privately, most openly, the fact the Drakan Killer, for lack of a better term, broke. Jason seemed particularly pleased at the news. They had to stop Arron from jumping him at one point. That didn't stop them from exchanging some heated words. She shook her head sadly at those who were happy with the turn of events and continued walking.

"Drink this darlin'," she heard Dusty say. Emily turned a corner and saw him try to give a cup of something to Rachel.

"I'm not thirsty," she told him softly. Emily's heart went out to her, she was taking this harder than anybody.

"Drink, you're not going to do Jack any good if you're depriving yourself." He put the paper cup into her hands when she wouldn't take it. Cupping her face between his hands he told her, "Now I don't know what going through that head of yours, but I'm telling you now we're going to do everything we can to get Jack back to the way he was. You got my word that's my main priority right now."

"As we all will child," Emily said as she came into view. "Jack is too strong a sprit to do otherwise."

Usually when she said something like that people looked grateful for the encouragement. Rachel just stared at her saying nothing. Emily was expecting this so she was already brace for it. "You knew this was going to happen," she accused. "Didn't you!", Rachel crushed the cup in her hand as Emily simply lowered her head. "Why didn't you tell us?!", she demanded as she got in her face. "We could have been prepared for this! We could have stopped this from happening!"

"Rachel," Dusty tried to calm her down. He even put a hand on her shoulder that she pulled away from.

"Why didn't you tell us?! Did you want him to go through this crap?! Is this how you get your kicks?!"

"Rachel that's enough," Dusty told her sternly. She walked away cursing in French. Dusty rubbed his eyes, "I'm sorry Emily."

"It is alright Dusty," she told him. "The child just needed somebody to lash out at. Much like Jack did awhile back."

"Still doesn't make it right."

"At least she's directing her anger at somebody other than herself." Dusty couldn't argue with that point. "Jack needs her to be strong right now."

"You did see this coming, didn't ya?", Dusty asked while looking at her funny. "I have to agree with the little lady, you should have warned them."

Sighing Emily told him, "It wouldn't have made a difference Dusty."

"You don't know that Emily." Then he closed his eyes and looked very sad. "Look at who I'm arguing with."

"I know it is hard to hear but Jack was meant to go through this," she explained. "It was just a matter of when, not if. No amount of preparation was going to stop it."

"Might have made the blow a little easier to take if we did know." He looked very tired as he sat down. "I know I told her I'd do everything I could to help him, but I don't think I can get him back to the way he was."

"I have faith that you will Dusty. You are the only person stubborn enough to believe he could do so."

"Maybe, but I'm pretty sure his fighting days are pretty much done." He expected her to agree, but she remained quiet. "You don't honestly think I'm going to agree to let him do that again? That's what got him in this mess to begin with. I'd be a damn fool to let that happen."

"I want to agree with you Dusty," she told him honestly, "but I know his part in this particular drama isn't over yet." She continued on her way adding, "And ultimately the final say on the matter doesn't belong to you I'm afraid." Emily felt Dusty stare at her but he said nothing in return. When she exited the room she sighed to herself, "Even I don't know what choice he will make at this point." As she remembered the vision that was responsible for him being here she added, "I don't think I ever did."

* * *

Standing outside the door leading to the room Jack was in Rachel just started at it for a long time. She went to the cafeteria to grab him something to eat, but she couldn't open the door. What was stopping her? She promised herself that she was going to everything in her power to get him through this, yet she was staring at the door. Rachel had to be honest with herself, it was hard to see him in that condition. He was so full of life, to see him like this…. Taking a deep breath she opened the door and relieved Arron, who looked sympathetic as he patted her on the shoulder and left the room. Alone with Jack huddled into the corner, part of her prayed that stupid little sly half grin of his would cross his lips and he say "Gotcha." That part of her was disappointed real quick.

"I brought you a sandwich," she said as she sat down on the floor and placed the tray in front of him. "They only had diet pop left, I hope that's alright."

Glancing at the tray he mumbled, "I'm not hungry." At least she was able to get him to say something.

"Come on Jack, I know you have to be a little hungry." She pushed the tray toward him a little. He was staring at it but he wasn't pushing it away either. "Just half a sandwich… please." Looking her briefly he slowly reached out and took one of the halves. Rachel watched him as he ate. Every so often his eyes would flicker around the room. Seeing those Drakan he killed or looking for them she couldn't guess.

After he finished the sandwich half she felt a little better that she got something on his stomach. Now for the hard part. Reaching into a pocket she pulled out a small plastic bag that contained a couple of pills. Like she thought his eyes locked on the bag. She might as well get this out of the way. "Dusty told me to give you these."

"What are they for?" he asked looking a little more nervous, if that was even possible.

"He said they would help you relax," Rachel told him. She didn't see a point in lying to him. "Maybe you can finally get some sleep…."

"No," he cut her off and tried to get further into the corner. "No sleep. They're there when I sleep."

"Jack calm down," she said in a soothing voice as she could muster at the moment. Rachel knew this was going to be hard. "Dusty wouldn't give you anything that would hurt you. Just take the pills and swallow them… please." He didn't look like he was going to do it. "I'll stay with you the entire night. Please, for me." Jack looked her right in the eyes then held out a hand that was shaking. Dropping the pill into his hand he popped them into his mouth and swallowed. "Jack I need to see if you actually took them." Her heart jumped a bit as he got that annoyed look that crossed his face every so often. But he opened his mouth, he even lifted his tongue and showed her his hands, "Thank you."

Rachel sat next to him and gently pulled him down until his head rested on her lap. Without thinking she started stroking his hair to calm him down. She didn't know why she started doing it, it just felt like the right thing to do. After a few moments of silence Jack spoke up, "Rachel."

"Yeah Jack?"

"Why… why are you doing this?"

"Because I…," I love you. "Because you're my friend and I care about you. Like you told me I take my friendships very seriously." He nodded in response and was quiet for a couple more minutes before speaking again.

"Rachel, do you remember me asking why World Inc. needed something like me?"

She had to think for a bit but she remembered. He asked her that right before they left World Inc. and went on the run. "Yeah, I told you they needed someone like you."

"Mitchell said they needed a thing like me."

That made her a little angry. Rachel had a similar conversation with him bout Jack. The way Mitchell thought still made her blood boil. "Mitchell is an idiot," she told Jack. "You are the most human person I know. Don't you ever forget that, do you hear me?"

"I wish I was still human," he mumbled. Rachel heart broke but she said nothing. After awhile the pills took affect and Jack was asleep soon after. Rachel patted his head gently and tied to get comfortable. She also tried to find a position to get some sleep herself that wouldn't wake him up. This could be a long night, but it would be worth it.

After a couple of hours Melissa came into the room. Rachel put a finger to her lips to tell her to keep quiet. She nodded and closed the door behind her as quietly as she could. Kneeling down a few feet away from her she softly asked, "Do you want me to watch him for awhile?"

Rachel shook her head a bit, "I told him I'd stay with him the entire night. I don't want him to think I broke my word."

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't want you to run yourself ragged."

"I know, but I owe it to him."

"You and everybody else Rachel. I told you all of us let this happened. If anybody is guilty of anything it's me. I had him do things that added to his problem."

Both of them went quiet when Jack stirred slightly. When it looked like he wasn't going to wake up Rachel said, "I'm going to have to apologize to Emily later."

"She already told me about," Melissa informed her. "She totally understands why you blew up at her."

"It doesn't make me feel any better about it."

"Trust me Rachel if she felt insulted her cane would've let you know," Melissa said with a smile. Too bad Rachel didn't feel like returning it. Melissa started staring at Jack, but it wasn't a look of concern. It was one of confusion. Before Rachel could ask what was wrong Jack started twitching slightly, almost like he was dreaming. She remembered seeing him doing this a couple of times when they were on the run. His twitches started to get a little more violent.

"Jack," she said softly. A little louder she repeated, "Jack," and nudged him slightly.

His eyes opened suddenly. A second later he got up yelling, "NOOOO!". Scrambling away from them he turned toward them with another look she never seen on his face before. The look of somebody ready to fight for their very life if they had too. Melissa got between them and changed into a light green tiger with dark green stripes. Rachel tried to get in front of her when he lost the look and became more aware of his surroundings. "Please," he said in between breaths, "please don't do that."

"That was my fault," Rachel told him she approached, "I shouldn't have startled you like that." She shot a look at Melissa behind her as she reverted to her human form looking ashamed of herself.

"I over reacted," she told her. "Friedman put something in my head… sorry."

"It's alright," Rachel said as she put an arm around Jack. It took a few minutes but she finally convinced him to lay back down. "Could you hand me his coat over there?"

"Sure," Melissa grabbed it from the corner and handed it to Rachel, who placed on top of Jack to cover him up. "I'd better go… something going to pop up that needs my attention before I know it."

"Ok," Rachel told her. She guessed Melissa was thinking the less people in here the better it would be for Jack. Rachel found herself agreeing with it. "We'll see you in the morning."

When Melissa left them alone Jack said, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she told him. "Just try to get some sleep." Jack said nothing as he stared at the wall.

* * *

The next morning Anderson walked into the World Inc. lobby and found Taylor waiting for him. After saying good morning to the receptionist he motioned for Taylor to follow him. The elevator already had several people inside who held the door for them. For what seemed like an eternity listening to the humans and their small talk they were finally alone when the last one slowly exited. Making sure they wouldn't be disturbed Anderson hit a secret switch the senior Allen had installed that would turn off the call buttons for this elevator on the other floors. "How did the interrogation go?"

"Not well sir," Taylor said," Perez and his… ahem 'specialist' worked on him the entire night. But so far he hasn't been talking. He won't even admit the name he gave us is his real one."

Anderson smirked, "I would be highly surprised if that was his real name."

"True," Taylor agreed. "But Perez is asking permission to use some more, shall we say, persuasive tactics to get the information out of our guest."

"He is rather impatient, isn't he?", Anderson commented. Taylor didn't respond. "Mitchell would have come up with some more creative means before asking permission. Tell him to wait a couple of days before getting a little more aggressive, we still have to keep up appearances." Taylor said he would pass it on. One more thing was still bothering him. "I'm assuming no one still has no idea what happened to Mr. Davidson."

"No sir, we've been listen to the feeler we have to the rebels and so far nobody is talking."

Anderson thought it over as the elevator doors opened. "I have often found money can loosen a tongue or two in some cases. Put an offer out there for Davidson condition, and only his condition. I have a feeling somebody will bite sooner or later."

* * *

Rachel fell asleep before he did, again. He tried to fall asleep, he really did. But the nightmares kept coming back to him no matter what he did. Jack sat against the wall still shaking against the heat of the room. His eyes darted around the room as various dead Drakan came and went as they pleased and he couldn't do anything to stop it. One of them did something different that caught his attention. The dolphin Drakan stood in the middle of the room and stared at Rachel who was still sleeping. Feeling an anger grow inside of him Jack stood up to confront the ghost. "Leave her alone," he demanded. It looked at him and disappeared as Jack fell back to his knees.


	33. Chapter 33

Episode 33

She could hear the usual noise and commotion coming from the common area as they walked through the hallways. Looking over at Jack she watched for a reaction. Much like she feared he started to shrink back a bit. Good thing they weren't headed that way, it would have been too much too soon. Gently she took his hand and guided him foreword, he still tried to hesitate. Especially when a couple of Drakan passed them. She gave his hand a quick squeeze when it looked like he was going to take off. "Easy Jack," she said, "we're almost there."

"I shouldn't… I shouldn't be here," was all he said while he scratched his beard he'd grown. He started looking around like he was searching for something, or someone. Rachel quickly grabbed his face and made him look at her.

"We're all alone," she assured him. Subconsciously she started stroking his cheek until he calmed down. It's been little over a month since it happened, and right now all she wanted to see some of that progress Dusty said he was making in public. "Like I said we're almost there and I know you have to be hungry."

"I shouldn't be out," was all he told her. "I shouldn't be here."

"Dusty said it'd be alright for you to get out and walk around for a little bit," she explained to him again. "Just as long as we didn't overwhelm you on your first time out. And Melissa said the cafeteria is pretty quiet this time of day."

"I don't know," he said quickly. "They're going to be there."

Do not go backtracking on us now. "Our friends are going to be there. Sparky and Arron are waiting for us. Even Emily said she might join us." She was trying very hard to not sound like she was talking to a child, but was worried it was coming out that way any way. "We can do this some other time if don't feel like it right now. Just let me know alright."

Jack looked unsure of himself then he replied, "I... I want to do this. I need to do this." Rachel wasn't sure but if it was her imagination or not, but she would swear on a stack of bibles some of his old determination returned to his eye briefly.

Rachel smiled slightly, "That's the spirit." Taking his hand again they walked the rest of the way. She stopped by the door before entering, just to give him a couple of moments to prepare himself. When he was ready Rachel led him in. Arron and Sparky were at the table both with a big smile on there faces. She glanced at Jack who suddenly found the floor very interesting. One step at a time she reminded herself. The cafeteria wasn't as empty as she would have liked, but you couldn't have everything. At least most of them weren't staring at him.

"Hi there buddy," Sparky greeted him.

"Hey man," Arron said.

Jack returned it with a slightly weak, "Hey."

"How's the food?", she asked as they sat down.

"About the same," Sparky told her. "I don't know what it is but the quality has been dipping for the past couple of weeks."

"Dude, we're living underground," Arron said. "What kind of quality are you expecting?"

"Man you're the rich kid," he shot back.

"Here we go again," Arron sighed.

"I'm just saying you should be with me on this one. You've gone from the finer things in life to this. I say you demand some better food. For morale if nothing else."

"Leave Fido alone will ya."

All three of them looked right at Jack. For a brief moment he looked liked his old self, although to Rachel it looked a bit forced. But Hell, right now she'll take it. "I have to agree with these two," she told Sparky.

"You just asked me hear so you can gang up on me didn't you?", he joked. "Usually I'd be a tad tee'd off, but I'm just glad my best bud is out of that stuffy ass room. This hole hasn't been the same without you around."

"I'll go grab us some food," Arron said as he got up.

"Thanks Arron," Rachel told him.

"The kid's been taking real good care of you bike," Sparky told Jack. "Just like it was his own baby," Jack just nodded. "Hell I think you might have a hard time getting it back." She was certain he was trying to get a rise out of him, but apparently he wasn't biting. Then he added, "Of course it's a shame to just let it sit there. I mean a machine like that needs, no, wants to be out on the streets."

"You're not racing my bike," Jack told him plainly. Sparky looked s little hurt, then he gave her a quick grin. There was a little of his old self in there. And she would wait as long as it took until they were able to pull it out of him. Now if they can get him back fully or not was a question she wasn't ready to think about yet.

Suddenly he put his hands in front of his eyes to try to hid the fact he was squeezed them shut. He was seeing "them" again. Sparky recognized that motion and looked a little uncomfortable. Over the past months these episodes were of various lengths, right now Rachel was hoping this was one of the shorter versions. Rubbing his shoulder lightly she said, "Just let it pass." Slowly he removed his hands from his eyes and tried to get his breathing back to normal. "We're going to beat this," she assured him.

"I don't think we can," he told her while holding his forehead.

"Hey man," Sparky cut in, "that defeatist talk. You are going to whip this like nobody business." Rachel was glad he was there trying to raise his confidence. Arron came back soon after with a couple of trays. Jack picked at his food but occasionally he took a bite here and there. Like they planned they started up a conversation, and while they weren't forcing him to talk every so often they leave him an opening to say something. More times than not he wouldn't, but when he did he at least appeared normal. Again it looked forced to her but at least he was trying. How did Dusty put it, he didn't lose his fight he was just hiding it somewhere.

"I don't believe it," a new voice said. Rachel didn't need to see Sparky and Arron's face to know it was Jason. This was the last thing they needed right now. "I mean I heard, but I didn't believe it. The all mighty Drakan Killer decided to come out of his hiding hole. It must be a miracle," he said sarcastically.

"Lay off of him if you know what's good for you," Arron said, with a bit of a growl edging his voice.

"So the green whelp," Jason spat, "think he has teeth. I'll prove you wrong some other time." He pushed Arron to the side as he sat right in front of Jack. Rachel motioned for Arron to stay where he was while Sparky put a hand around his arm to hold him back. Then she gave her entire attention to Jack, who was staring at a spot on the table. But she did notice that the hand he had on the table started to ball up only to stop a few times. "So this is what became of you,' Jason taunted. "You came barging in here all high and mighty, now look at you."

"We were invited to stay here," Rachel reminded him.

"Shut up you worthless human," he snapped at her not taking his eyes off Jack. The corner of his eyes start to crinkle as something flashed in them briefly. "What are you going to do Bug?", Jason challenged him seeing it too. He shot his head foreword, like he was going to come at him. Jack flinched away and Rachel gave the Drakan a look that could kill. He ignored her as he slowly got up and leaned over Jack. Getting right in Jack's ear he said, "And to think we were afraid of you."

Sparky surprised all of them by nearly jumping over Arron and punching him in the mouth. "I think it's time for you to leave," he said in a warning tone. Jason smirked as he held his jaw. Then he stood up, shot a last look at Jack and left.

After a minute Sparky sat back down as Arron stared at him. "You actually punched him."

"Eh, you're a bad influence," he said looking mildly embarrassed. "I think I hurt my hand."

"Somebody had to have told him Jack was here," Arron looked around before getting up. "If you guys will excuse me."

"Arron don't do anything stupid," Rachel warned him.

"Just making sure the hallways are clear."

"I'll make sure he stays out of trouble," Sparky told them while he got up. He looked confused for a second then added, "Did that just come out of me?"

Rachel shrugged her shoulders and watched them leave. Jack looked like he didn't know what he was going to do. Rubbing his shoulder again she asked, "You have enough for one day?" She noticed he was looking at his hand, it was still trying to make a fist. "Come on Jack let's call it a day."

"I," he started to say, "I should have… I should have said something. I should have done something."

"There'll be plenty of time for that later," she told him. Of course one of these day she was going to make sure Melissa wasn't around at the wrong time.

***

Anderson walked through the hallways of the World Inc. Building. Barely acknowledging anybody who crossed his path he was deeply entrenched in his own thoughts. He had walked these corridors many times, with the late senior Allen and by himself, so he had these paths committed to memory. So he could walk any hallway on autopilot and still arrive at his destination. Of course there were times such as now where he was trying to clear his mind, and it was rather busy with one particular subject. After awhile he noticed a person that was now walking with him. Very few people would be this bold, "Mr. Taylor."

"Mr. Anderson," his VP answered in return.

"Still no word I assume."

"I'm afraid not sir. The offer has been out there for a month and no one taken it yet. Maybe they're afraid.

"Of what Mr. Taylor

"That this might be a trap to find out where they're hiding." A possibility he had considered himself more than once. "Or…,"Taylor trailed off.

"I hate when people leave an unfinished thought hanging in the air Mr. Taylor."

He started slowly, "Or the reason why haven't heard anything is that Davidson might be dead."

"He's alive," Anderson stated firmly. "I know word of the Drakan Killer death would have spread like wildfire. Up the reward for information on his current condition. And keep raising it until we have some kind concrete information on his condition one way or another."

Taylor stopped in his tracks looking dumbfounded, "Why?", he ended up asking. Anderson slowly turned around to face him and said nothing. "Why are we going to so much trouble to find out? Davidson is a traitor. If he's out of the way, even temporarily, shouldn't we be finding out a way to use this to our advantage?"

Waiting a few moments before answering he said, "Honestly Mr. Taylor, I do not know. I suppose part of me feels responsible for Davidson. I was the one who green lighted him for the Fusion project, because something in my gut told me too. He was the guinea pig that proved that the effort we put into the project was worth it. But mainly I want to know why, because the man I saw here does not sound like the man Mr. Perez saw." Turning back around he added, "Raise the reward once a week. The information is out there, it's just a matter of finding the right price."

***

Emily watched through the window as he sat against the wall. Rachel was still in there with him just talking away. Occasionally he'd say something in return. She stopped when an episode hit, judging from his reaction this one was particularly bad. Rachel held him until it passed then made sure he was alright. Emily saw Melissa's reflection in the window and nodded. "I can't believe she's still in there," Melissa said out loud.

"The child determination is fueling her at this point," Emily pointed out.

"It's getting to the point that we have to force her to take a break. I think Dusty would make more of a fuss about it if Jack didn't respond to her more than anybody else."

"The experiences they shared created a bond between them child. I would've been surprised if it wasn't her he was reacting too." There was a few moments of silence, "But it still troubles you to see him like this, doesn't it."

"How can I not be troubled? I know I'm partially responsible for this happening." After another moment of silence Melissa added, "Usually this would be the place people would say I'm wrong."

"And I would truly like to tell you that child. But circumstances beyond our control forced us into this situation."

"Close enough," she said with a small smile. Emily returned it and went back to watching Jack. "Emily," she said, "I know your visions are never wrong but from what you told me I think that boat's been missed for this one."

"I don't think it has," she said after thinking it over.

"I don't want to argue with you but," Melissa glanced at Jack and Melissa before continuing, "but he suffered a mental breakdown. If he was going to talk to you he would've done it before it happened."

"And nobody said he was going to talk to me before it happened," she corrected her. "I just know he will talk to me when he's ready."

"I don't think he's going to be talking to anybody soon while he's in this state."

"I this state no," she agreed. "But it is a sign he's going to get better, if even just a little. It all depends on how you look at it," Emily gave her a light tap on the leg with her cane, "you should know that by now child."

***

Why wouldn't they go away and leave him alone. Fading in and out like they didn't have a care in the world. Wasn't there anybody else these ghosts could bother for once? All he wanted was for them to leave them alone, how much more of a price did have to pay? Yeah, he's killed a lot of Drakan since they altered him and he probably deserved this. But when was it finally going to be enough?

Actually what he really wanted was to hit one of these things right in the nose. Just to see if he got any satisfaction from it if anything else. He felt his hand start to close but something inside stopped it… again. Well at any rate it gave him something to think about when the ghost weren't around. Of course if he did start swinging away at them he'd be freaking the others out even more. He might be out of his mind but he could see how uncomfortable the other were, even Rachel. She might be hiding it better than the others but he could see it.

"Seriously man," Sparky said as he walked around the empty room, "what do you do in here all day. If it was me I think I'd be planning my escape on day two."

Leaning his head back against the wall he said, "See ghost, go nuts, plan to take over the world. You know the usual."

Sparky gave him a nervous grin, "I swear that was almost a joke."

"OK maybe the take over the world part was a bit much." He closed his eyes for a bit. When he opened them Sparky looked like he was bracing himself. "No spooks this time, just a little bored."

"How can you be bored with Mr. Personality around?"

"So I'm not the only one out of his mind then."

"You're lucky you're sick or I'd kick you butt."

"You're really far gone ain't ya?", he said with a grin.

"Alright Mr. Ha-ha," Sparky said sounding annoyed, "why are you so funny in here when out there…", he stopped. From embarrassment or not sure what to say, he wasn't sure.

Jack answered any way, "Because in here I know who's real and who's not."

"Make sense," Sparky said absentmindedly, you never know when a Joker going to pop out in his Drakan form. Then I'd have to stop Arron from kicking his ass and that would cause a whole different mess entirely."

Rachel walked in a moment later carrying a box of some sort. She waved Sparky over to the door. She whispered something to him, but Jack could hear it anyway. "I heard you two talking." Sparky stated to say something then Rachel added, "Thank you."

He smiled and looked embarrassed, "Just glad to help out where I can." Rachel patted him on the shoulder as he left.

She looked over at him and plastered that smile on her face that she had for the past month. He didn't have the heart to tell her how fake that looked. Then again he was half out of his mind so what did he know. "So what's with giving Sparky a hard time?"

"It's Sparky," he answered.

Rachel sat across from him and he got a good look at the box she was carrying, a game of checkers. "You would not believe how hard it was to find a complete set down here, "she told him. "I mean I found a piece being used to straighten out a table. Then again you really can't be that choosey about the quick fixes around here I suppose." She opened the box and started setting up the game, "In case you were wondering why I brought this I thought you could use something to do. You know get your mind off things for awhile. If you're up to it that is."

Jack started smiling as a memory came to him, "I'm guessing you're afraid I'd kick you butt in that wrestling game again."

This time a genuine smile crossed her lips, "I seem to recall I had you on the ropes when time ran out."

"And people think I'm crazy."

She leaned in a little, "The moment I can convince Dusty to find away to hook that system up down here I'll show you who was kicking who's butt." There was a small glint in her eyes for a moment, he wasn't sure what it was. "So," she said as she returned to setting up the game, "do you want to be red or black?"

Almost on cue all the red Drakan he'd killed came at him, quickly he told her, "Black."

***

Despite all his wondering about Davidson he did have a company to run, and a group of rebel he had to lead back into the fold so to speak. Why couldn't they see what they think they wanted was wrong? One would think they would eventually realize all of this would stop the moment they came to their senses. But every society had it's trouble maker he supposed. That's what made programs like the Fusion system a necessity. Speaking of, he was long overdue for an update.

Walking into R&D he scanned the room for Armstrong. His head researcher was busy going over a set of plans with his assistants, not even noticing he was in the room. Several of the developers got out of his way as he made his way toward the group. Armstrong finally saw him there and said, "Tim, why don't you take the others and test it out some more." Breaking away from the pack and met him half way, "What can I do for you Mr. Anderson?"

Getting straight to the point he said, "I wanted to ask about Mitchell. I haven't received an update in quite a while."

"Well the bonding process takes time. With Davidson…"

Anderson cut him off, "You originally gave me the impression the Mark two would make the process easier, therefore faster."

"I do realize that Mr. Anderson, but something unexpected came up. Come with me if you'll please." Armstrong lead him to his desk, surprisingly there were some MRI images of a spinal cord on it. "The damage to Mitchell spine was more severe than the medical wing originally thought. While the Mark two would help correct the problem, we're not sure how much additional work is going to be needed at this point if the legs aren't getting the signal properly. It's entirely possible he may have to learn to walk again."

"Considering who paralyzed him to begin with I'm sure Mitchell would be properly motivated to accomplish that task. If the need arise that is."

"I'm sure he would," Armstrong agreed. "Also we came up with an upgrade for the system I was going to run by you." He unrolled another set of blue prints and gave the non technical explanations to him. Anderson raised an eyebrow in interest in what he was hearing. "Granted, putting it in now would lengthen the bonding period, but we feel it would be helpful in case Davidson got in a lucky shot."

"I agree with your assessment Dr. Armstrong. Add the upgrade to Mitchell's system. "I'm sure he would hate to be defeated by a 'lucky' shot as you put it."

***

In what almost become a habit she waited in the common area for the team she set out to come back. Christopher would wait for them in the garage, and she tried to do that a couple of times. It never felt right to her. Then again he could inspire confidence just by standing there. Her, she was lucky she's been able to hold this thing together for this long. Even now, when nobody thought she was around, she'd hear whispers on how Chris would do such and such this way. Melissa said she wasn't her brother and had no plans to be like him, but every so often she wished she had a bit of whatever he had.

A growing sensation of satisfaction brought her back to the here and now. A successful raid if she had to guess, but it was edge with something else. She wasn't sure what it was at this point. It was bad enough when they told her the resistance they've been encountering lately had been human, no Drakans. Like Anderson decided to hold off on using those under for now or something. Melissa wasn't sure if she could handle something else right now.

"The job is complete," Jason boasted as he entered the common area. A look at the face of some of the others, including Sparky, said something else happened. "We got the supplies you wanted and hurt Anderson at the same time." That statement could not be good for them in the long or short run.

"You were just suppose to grab what we needed and leave," she reminded them. Sparky and the others looked right at Jason.

"What did you do?" Nathan asked as he made his way through the crowd.

"I got what we needed," he said looking smug, "and then I did what we needed to do."

"And how is blowing up the warehouse something we needed to do?", Sparky shot him. Melissa and the other around her looked at him. She turned around and rubbed her hands down her face.

"Are you out of your mind!", Nathan exploded. "Are you trying to attract undo attention to us?"

"Why not?", Jason challenged. "Let us show the world what we're willing to do for our cause."

"And Anderson can and will use that to paint us in an even bigger negative light," Melissa informed him. "We do not need to give a alpha who secretly agrees with him an opening to come out publically. We are barely holding our own as it is, the last thing we need is for Anderson to get a fresh supply of troops."

"Then we show them why it was a mistake to join with Anderson to begin with," he shot back. "What would you have us do, stay hidden in the shadows? Along with being afraid of being discovered by accident?" He looked at the crowd around them and continued his argument, "It's time we showed them we are not afraid, that we are willing to fight back and take what we want."

"And give Anderson a bigger target," Nathan counter angrily. "How many times have I told you, taking him on directly is a sure way to get us wiped out."

"And what do you suggest old man?", Jason challenged him. "That we place all our hope and prayers on the metal bug?" We know how reliable he is don't we? Right now you apparent savior is cowering in a hole afraid of his own shadow." Sparky had to be held back but Jason didn't see it.

The emotion from the room was so overwhelming she didn't know something was going to happen until it did. The only clue Melissa had was Sparky seeing something behind Jason and a brief flash of blond hair. All of the sudden a metal pole whipped up between Jason legs and nailed him in the crotch. He went down holding himself and Sparky and a few of the other had a big grin on their face. Rachel was behind him holding one of Jack's battle staffs with a hateful look on her face. After a moment she said, "You're lucky I couldn't find the boomstick," and walked off.

"Do something," Jason said in pain as he looked at her.

"You so had that coming," Sparky said as he stepped over him as Nathan and a few other nodded in agreement.

"Is there something more to this that I need to know about," Melissa stopped and asked him.

Sparky thought it over for about a second, "Nah, not really," and continued on his way. "But somebody might want to tell her to disinfect that staff before too long."

She looked over to Jason who was still on the ground, "Yeah, I guess you're right," and walked away in another direction. Despite Sparky's claim there was something more to that than what she saw. She told herself she would check on it… eventually.


	34. Chapter 34

Episode 34

Once again he was in the mountains facing the one person he hated more than anybody else in the world. As always they fought and he killed him with his bare hands. Walking away the monkey came back to life and kicked the crap out of him. As before the monkey waved around his waist and the belt appeared around it's waist as the armor faded disappeared. On more time it waved an ever growing number of dead Drakan from the surrounding fog as the system activated on each of them. Again he started to run but was held in place by Richie and Max. All he could do was watch in fear as the Drakan turned the right pod while other hit the button that used to be there under the belt. They jumped as one and he woke up screaming, "NOOOO!!".

Jack quickly looked around the barren room trying to figure out where he was. Then he focused on Rachel hovering nearby and remembered. A few seconds later she wrapped her arms around him and tried to calm him down. She never did anything as soon as he woke up, always waiting a moment or two. Jack knew why, he overheard them talking about it, as Sparky put it he was in attack mode as soon as he came out of the nightmare. And Jack wasn't sure if he would hurt anybody or not at the moment.

"It's ok Jack," Rachel said as he breathing went back to normal. Slowly she pulled away and sat next to him. After all this time in this room she was finally able to get him a mattress to sleep on a month or so back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her staring at him. "Talk to me Jack," she said after a few moments of silence.

"There's nothing to talk about," he said as his heart finally stopped beating in his ears.

"And don't tell me that," she told him plainly. "This is the only area where you're not making any kind progress. Was there anything different about the nightmare this time around? Anything, something small, smoothing you usually wouldn't have noticed."

"The only thing different is the number stopped getting bigger," he told her, talking about the amount of dead Drakan coming at him. A tear fell down his check, he wasn't sure how much more of this he could take, "Why won't this go away?"

"I wish I could tell you," she said honestly, "but you're the only one who can do that. Or at least that what Dusty says." Rachel brushed some of the hair out of his eyes, "One of these days we're going to have to get you a haircut, maybe a shave. You're looking like Grizzly Adams."

Jack smiled weakly, "So you don't go for the rugged looking type?"

Rachel smiled back, "You couldn't even begin to guess my type."

"Don't tell me you and Sparky are spending a little quality time in one of his hiding spots."

Rachel looked annoyed for a brief second before smiling again, "And to think I was missing those lame jokes of yours."

"I can go lamer, I'm just out of practice."

"And that's a really scary thought," she told him. Patting him on the knee she said, "Try to go back to sleep, we got a long day ahead of us."

"And more people watching to see if I'm going to crack again," he said out loud without thinking.

"Now don't talk like that," she scolded him. "Nobody wants to see you have a relapse."

"Tell that to the chimp," he said darkly.

"Yeah well," she hesitated, "Jason a jackass to begin with."

"According to Sparky a higher pitched one after you were done," he teased her.

Rachel looked embarrassed, "Like you said Sparky says a lot of things."

"And Arron and Angie and I think I overheard Melissa say something…"

"Alright wise guy, save some of that for later." She kissed on top of the head, "Now try to get some sleep." Jack nodded and laid back down. He closed his eyes and tried to relax before finally drifting back off again. But it didn't seem like no time before he was back in the mountains fighting Jason again before everything went to hell.

***

When he wasn't waking up screaming in the middle of the night everybody was amazed t the progress Jack had made. A few commented that he was almost like his old self. Of course people like her and Dusty knew him a little better. Every so often Rachel would catch him with his eyes closed for an extended period of times. He was still seeing his ghost, but at least they didn't seem to appear as often as they did. Either that or he's gotten better at hiding the spells. If it was the latter they were going to have a talk.

Later though, right now they had to get to the garden center. Rachel didn't believe how long it took her to convince Dusty that this would be a good idea. She saw his point when Jack was seeing ghost every other minute, he might have tried to run or something. But now seemed like good a time as any to see how he would react in a larger group setting. She watched him hesitate for a second before they entered the underground garden the rebels had set up. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw as he looked around the area with a worried look that he tried to cover up. Apparently she was the only one who saw it as Sparky and a red and purple haired girl she learned was named Angie ran up to them smiling like nothing was wrong.

"Buddy I'm glad to see you down here," Sparky told him.

Rachel and Jack looked at each other totally confused. Then Jack asked, "What in the blue hell are you doing down here?".

"Without a gun pointed to your head?", she added.

"What are you two talking about," he said laughing. "I love coming down here."

"Since when?", they asked in unison. Sparky gestured toward Angie without her seeing. Jack sighed and walked toward the tool rake as Sparky followed him.

Angie smiled at him and turned toward Rachel, "I know he's full of it but I love watching him act. Oh Jack," she called out, "anytime you want to lop that hair off let me know. I do more than just makeup and wigs."

"I told you needed one," Rachel said. Jack waved her off.

"You really ought to think about it," Sparky told him. "How do you think I stay looking so pretty?"

"I'm a stylist not a miracle worker," Angie said then walked off.

Sparky quickly went after her, "Now was that necessary?"

Jack leaned on the rake he picked out and watched them, "Either he's trying to hook up with her or I'm crazier than I thought."

"Nobody that's crazy," Rachel told him. He nodded after thinking about it a bit and she picked out a hoe and they started working. It wasn't long before she became aware of somebody hiding in the corner. From the look of things Jack hadn't noticed yet so she made her way over. Sounding a little irritable she said, "I had him convince nobody was going to be watching him."

"Just here as a doctor and a friend little lady," Dusty told her. "Still say this is a bit much too soon."

"And you know how much he hates being babied," she countered. "Especially now since he's acting more or less like normal."

"I hope you don't mind if I point out the word 'act' there."

"Look I know he's faked a couple of reactions since this happened to look normal. I've known him long enough to realize that. But this is him, I know it."

"I know you want to think that darlin'…"

She cut him off, "What, you think I so desperate that I'm seeing things?". That came out a little angrier than she intended.

Dusty didn't look fazed but sounded apologetic, "I didn't mean it like that little lady, but I caught myself doing it a few times too." Putting a hand on her shoulder he added, "We all want him back Rachel, so bad we can taste it. But sometimes we have to step back and take a more critical eye about things."

Before she could answer they heard Jack say, "Would you quit it."

"Come on man," Sparky said while playfully jabbing the handle end of a shovel at Jack. "Let's see if you still have the moves."

"I don't do that anymore Sparky," Jack told him while trying to grab the handle or trying to knock it away.

"That part still gotta be in you somewhere." He kept jabbing away, "You just have to find it again."

"Quit it Sparky," Jack started to look annoyed and a little angry.

"Sparky that's enough," Angie told him.

"Just having some fun," was all he said as he continued doing it.

Before Rachel and Dusty could run over and stop him Jack finally had enough. "Would," he used his rake to knock it away, "you," he blocked a return swing, "quit," Jack tripped him and stood over him, "it!"He raised the rake over his head and she ran faster. Everybody stopped what they were doing and watched. She saw his eyes change before the rest of him did. He started looking lost and confused a second before his hands opened up and the rake dropped to the ground. Looking at his hands he backed away sputtering, "I'm… I'm sorry I… I don't…"

"Dude seriously, my bad," Sparky said as he stood up. "I should have stopped when you said so."

"You better believed you should have stopped," Rachel snapped at him. Jack just slowly backed away from them staring at his hands.

"Rachel I'm…", Sparky started.

"Not know Sparky," she said sharply, by now Jack was already leaning against a wall with that confused look on his face. If she wasn't so mad at Sparky she might be sharing that look. She had no idea where that came from either.

***

Jack had a vague idea what was going on around him. Most of the others went back to what they were doing ignoring what happened. A few were pretending to do that while glancing his way. Rachel and Angie were both giving Sparky a piece of their mind. Frank stormed over demanding to know what the hell was going on while Dusty tried to calm him down. At the moment he was bothered by something else. It wasn't even the fact he started to fight back against Sparky, violently at that. No, something in his head screamed stop and his hands opened on their own.

Now he couldn't even get his hands to close again, like something was stopping them. If it was a glitch in the system he could understand, but only his left arm was reconstructed. His right still had some of his original "parts", so why was it doing it too? Why has it been doing it for that matter? Jack tried to force his right hand to make a fist but it was resisting him. He was trying so hard to make it close beads of sweat starting to appear on his forehead, "Come on, close damn it."

"Careful son," Dusty said catching by surprise, "you're gonna break something."

Glancing at Dusty briefly he said, "I guess I wasn't ready for this."

"Actually I'm thinking Rachel might be right and you're almost back to being yourself."

"I almost attacked Sparky," he said sounding a little bewildered.

"But you stopped yourself, showed a little self restraint. Hell, I would have just kicked his ass."

Jack looked at his hands again, "But how much of it was actually me?'

"I'm not gonna lie to ya, I've seen your hand… well I don't want to call it a problem, But it might be a symptom that you just don't realize you have yet."

"And what part of that is supposed to make sense?"

"It's medical side talk son, it's not suppose to make sense," Dusty said with a chuckle. "But the answer to that," he pointed at Jack's hand, "is in that open space you call a head. The moment you figure that out is the moment you clear that last hurdle, then you're in the home stretch."

"What if I can't figure it out?"

"I'm sure you will. And I'm pretty sure it has to deal with that guilt you been feeling, or lack of according to you." He was quiet for a few moments. "You're the only one who can make that last jump son. A lot of people want you back the way you were before. Hell I'm one of them. But it's up to you if you want to go that way."

"Never knew I had a choice in the matter," he said idly as he looked at the Drakan around them.

"You always have a choice son," Dusty patted him on the shoulder, "No matter what some people might tell ya."

"Wouldn't be the first time somebody told me that."

"Then it's gotta be true then doesn't son," Dusty smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, there's a couple of runny noses and a cracked oil pan that's come to my attention."

Dusty patted him on the shoulder again and walked off to whatever was closest. After a few moments Frank came storming past him saying something like, "I have half a mind to take them up on that offer." Jack started at him for a few moments wondering what that meant, then he looked down. There were a few weeds at his feet, but between them there was a plant of something, it looked like some kind of flower. Without really thinking he knelt down and started pulling the weeds away from the plant.

"Well that didn't quite go according to plan did it?", Rachel said as she walked up to him. Jack just grunted as he continued pulling the weeds. He could feel her staring at him. "So you ready to go?"

"Not yet," he said not looking at her.

"Well there's not much left o do around here. The next shift already here."

"Good for them."

Rachel got down to a knee and watched him, "What are you doing?"

"Rachel," he wasn't sure how to explain it, he really didn't know himself, "I've killed a lot of these people. I just," he finally looked at her, "I just want to help something live for a change."

She looked at the plant and smiled softly, "Alright, do you want some help? I sent you after a few of them after all."

"I don't suppose you know anything about growing plants? Because I have no clue."

***

"What can I do for you today General?", Anderson asked as Rhodes walked in unannounced. Usually he would ask to see him first so something must be bothering the man to more or less barge in like this.

"The good Senator," he replied, "is starting to make some noise again."

"Persistent for a human, isn't he?", Anderson sighed." Very tricky as well, he waits just long enough that the turmoil he cause if almost back down to normal before rattling the metaphorical saber again. If he was a Drakan I'd almost respect him."

"Well he starting to talk to people around me now," Rhodes informed him. "People with as much pull as I do. At least one with a somewhat negative view of this company." Looking a little nervous he leaned on the desk, "He's bringing up rumors that a mark two system is being bonded to somebody right now."

"Humans do love to gossip, don't they General," Anderson mused. "I suppose that's how they get some of their information, a human who can not keep quiet."

Rhodes straighten up, "You're being awfully nonchalant about this. This could be trouble."

He opened a drawer on his right side and started rummaging through the files inside. "I did not get this far by worrying about thing before they happen." Finding the right file he pulled it out and handed it to the General. "Give this to him, just a reminder of a previous conversation he has obviously forgotten."

The general flipped through the file then looked at him, "Is this true?"

"Enough of it is to be plausible," he told him. "The best lies always have a hint of the truth to them. Something I remembered after Davidson's defection. Perhaps he would still be working for us if I remembered that back then, or perhaps not."

Tapping the folder against his hand Rhodes commented, "It might be easier to replace the Senator on that committee rather than drag stuff like this up and spin it."

"Perhaps," he conceded. "It's something I already looked into. Unfortunately anybody else on that committee does not have the same political stroke Henning does, so we must put up with him for the time being. We just have to remind him of his place in the order of things. Speaking of which, inform the Senator that there is more where that came from." He let a small smile slip through, "For a man so upstanding in his community he does have a rather shaky past."

"If you don't mind me saying so," Rhodes said," you do seem unusually happy today."

Anderson leaned back in his chair, "There is a reason for that General, for the first time in months we may finally have word on Davidson's condition. To find out one way or another does take a load off of one's mind."

***

The old man put that green bitch up to this, Jason just knew it. Why else would he be put in a "grab and dash" operation with a group that had the green whelp and his blue haired lackey. This had to be some sort of punishment for speaking his mind. Yet months ago that worthless human assaulted him and they did nothing. The injustice of it all. They even had the nerve to search him for explosives before they left. It was almost as bad as being under Anderson's rule.

"The shipping yard looks clean," the group leader said while looking through his binoculars. "Looks like their info was right on the money."

"So why ain't they doing this one?", Sparky asked.

"For once me and the blue haired freak agree on something," Jason said smugly.

"Blame the guy who took over for Drake," the green whelp said. "He wanted a show of, and I'm quoting here, 'good faith' from Melissa."

"Is that why that particular cell been keeping their distance from us after Drake died?"

"And the others too according to Lance," the whelp told them. "The way he tells it the other cell leaders are starting to miss Drake, at least he understood they wouldn't be able to survive on their own."

"Somebody who thinks they can do it all by themselves," he could feel Sparky stare at the back of his head. "Sound like anybody you know?"

"Keep the metal bug out of this," Jason shot back. He smirked when a couple had to remind the whelp they were on the same side. The group leader waved them on and the silently crossed the street to an area of the surrounding fence that was darkened due to the lack of lights. The whelp wisely picked up a few pieces of stray gravel and tossed them at the fence to see if it was electrified. It wasn't so Jason and Sparky started in with the bolt cutters. Jason was actually amazed that they were ahead of schedule for once.

"According to their information the target on the first floor."

"Guess it's too much to hope that it's near a window," Sparky said before everybody hushed him. They found a door Sparky quickly unlocked. Two of the group stayed outside to guard their exit while the rest of them went inside the building. All of them felt uneasy about this assignment, the show of good faith was a file on a computer in a particular office. The best they could they could get out of this cell was that the file contained the troop placement for Anderson personal army. Even Melissa said this was foolish to attempt, but it could be useful information if they could get their hands on it. Arron found the office and the door was unlocked, that raised a few alarms in his head and the others were apparently smart enough to be alerted by it as well. The whelp quickly put a disk in the drive and looked for the file. Like that new cell leader said it was encrypted but he also supplied the password. Surprisingly it worked and the file started downloading.

"Remind me later to wonder how they got the passcode," the whelp said after the download was complete and took the disk.

"If these guys are that good I can see why Melissa wants to keep them happy," Sparky commented.

"If they're that good maybe they already know Jack's with us," the whelp said. "It would explain why they been keeping their distance lately."

"I've been saying that bug been more trouble than what he's worth," Jason said, partially to get under their skin. He and a few of the other realized something was wrong the moment they saw the door they entered from was ajar. Jason knew he closed it after the entered. Suddenly it swung open and a black clad World Inc. shock trooper barged in. Jason, who quickly dropped his human disguise, grabbed the human by the head and slammed him to the ground. The other changed forms while the whelp sniffed the air.

"He's the only one by the door," he said after a moment, "but there definitely more out there." Carefully they peaked round the door and saw shock troopers manning the fence. The two that were guarding he door was lying on the ground by them. The lack of smell of Drakan blood told them they were still alive. "Oh God we were set up."

"This is why we should be armed," Jason spat.

"Right know I settle for an armored dragonfly," the group leader said. "Scatter as best you can. Try to meet up at the old arcade. We'll regroup from there. And hang on to that disk, something good better come form it after all of this."

A couple of them went out the door. A few ran down the hall and crashed through the window at the end. Jason and the rest broke through the closest office and exited through the window within. Their reflexes were the only thing keeping them ahead of the gunshots. Although one or two went down because they were too slow. Jason saw a dart stick out of one that was hit. Apparently Anderson wanted them all taken alive, at least it gave them a chance.

He saw an idiot charge right at the shock troopers, apparently trying to give them an opening. That idiot only gave them an easier target. Right now it was every man for himself as far as he was concerned. Jason quickly saw where the gunmen weren't located and headed in that direction. So far none of them had noticed or he was out of their firing range. Then a shock stick came out of no where and struck him in the stomach. He bent over from the pain but refused to go down. He wouldn't give the human the satisfaction. Another one came out of hiding and jammed another shock stick into his side. He was vaguely aware that they were taunting him as they continued to jab at him. Jason tried to fight back, even came close to grabbing one o their disgusting faces, but the other one stopped him short.

"Gangway!", a eel said as he ran a shoulder into one of the troopers. Turning his attention to the other one he shocked him when the human tried to attack. Finally Sparky stopped playing around and took the shock stick from the human and used it against him, shocking him unconscious. "Guess that what happens when they have this set to Drakan all the time," he joked. Behind him the other human tried to sneak up on him. Then the wolf whelp flew in with a kick that knocked the trooper into the wall. Sparky watched him slide to the ground with an ear to ear grin and said "Boom." The wolf gave him a look, "You got that from Jack and you know it."

"That was a flying side kick," the wolf said as he hauled Jason to his feet. "Standard martial arts."

They started running as Sparky said, "Then how come I never seen you do it before now?".

"Why did you help me?", Jason asked in total confusion.

"And deny Jack the chance to kick your blue hairy ass?", Sparky answered. "He'd never forgive us." Jason silently fumed as they ran into the night.

***

Rachel was already up watching Jack lay there sleeping. As sad as it sounded she had his nightmares more or less timed out. Occasionally he'd miss one or have an extra one but for the most part they were like clockwork. Almost on cue he started twitching. Slowly she sat up and got ready. It wasn't long before he stopped twitching and his eyes snapped open and he shot up, "NOOOO!!"

It was getting harder and harder not to go to him immediately, but he still needed those first couple of moments to realize where he was. Then she went to him and tried to calm him down, "It's ok, I'm here. It was only a nightmare remember."

Jack clutched her arm that was different. There must have been something new to the nightmare. "A couple of them went after somebody else," he started without any prodding from her. "I don't know who… I couldn't stop them."

"It was only a nightmare," she told him. "They can't get anybody. He just sat there shaking in her arms. But the nightmare, after all these months, finally changed. So what did that mean?


	35. Chapter 35

Episode 35

"I can shave myself you know," Jack protested as he sat in the chair. Rachel and Sparky stood by as Angie used an old barber razor across his cheek. "I should know, I've done it before. I'm kinda good at it." He tapped his foot impatiently the entire time.

"I know you can," Rachel said," but I don't want you to have a razor in your hands in case you have another episode."

"I'm haunted and she sounding like it's a TV show," he mumbled. A little louder he said, "A couple of extra scars aren't gonna make that much of a difference. What, you think I'm gonna cut an artery or something?"

"Of course not," she told him. Even if it was a major lie. "But you're always doing things for yourself. Sometimes it's nice to sit back and let somebody do it for you. So enjoy it or I'll tell Angie to get rough with you."

"Relax would you Jack," Angie said joining in. "You should feel lucky. I don't do this for just anybody you know. Otherwise I never get anything done around here."

"Good to have connections," Sparky said beaming.

"Yeah," Angie agreed, "and it it's a good thing Rachel asked so nicely." Sparky stopped smiling while Rachel put a hand over her mouth to cover hers. "Trust me you're face will be smooth as a baby's butt by the time I'm finished."

Sparky started smiling again, "probably not the only things she…"

Angie pointed the razor at him, "You even think about finishing that sentence and I'll cut something off."

He quickly backtracked, "I was talking about your legs, Damn."

Jack got that familiar twinkle in his eyes, "If I give you twenty bucks will you do it anyway?"

She thought it over for a second, "Make it thirty and I'll let you name the part."

"Alright, alright," Rachel cut in, "stop threatening poor Sparky."

"Yeah," he quickly agreed.

"No matter how much he deserves it."

"Yea… hey!"

"So where's Arron?", Jack asked changing the subject. "I'd figured he want to be here. Somebody has to defend Sparky after all."

"He's with Melissa and Lance," Sparky told him. "That cell leader coming in today. Melissa wants to have a few choice words with him about that job he sent us on."

"Was that the same job Arron was saying 'We were set up' over and over?", Jack asked. Sparky nodded, "Should be a fun meeting."

"It took forever to calm him down," Rachel said thinking about the commotion after they came back. "I'm surprised they want him there."

"I'm sure they have Fido on a short leash," Jack said absentmindedly.

"Jack go like this," Angie said making a motion with her lip. He did and she started in on his upper lip. "You sure you just want the shave? It won't take me that long to grab my scissors and stuff."

"I'm just tired of my food getting stuck in there," he said plainly.

"I'm surprised you're not doing this," Sparky leaned on and whispered to Rachel. She really didn't comment. "What you don't think you can do it, it's not that hard you know."

"Well a couple of people have commented I'm becoming a little overprotective," she admitted. "After I thought about I can kind of see why they would think like that. I guess I'm trying to prove to myself that I can trust Jack in other people's hands. Especially now that he's not being as 'visited' as often as he was." Now if only that nightmare of his would show some signs of slowing down.

"I wasn't talking about that, I just figured something like this would bring you guys a little closer." Then Sparky grinned a bit as he slyly said, "Unless you guys have other ways to get closer at night."

Her face not betraying any of the annoyance she was feeling she leaned in a little closer and said, "I know where he keeps his money." Sparky backed away and crossed his legs. She looked over at Jack who was looking right at them with an amused look on his face. Rachel didn't want to but she ended up smiling too.

***

She was finding it hard to remain calm with Arron standing so close with his emotion streaming off him. Lance was fortunately a calming source to concentrate on, despite the small edge she was getting from him. Not that Melissa could blame them if this turned out to be true. She really didn't want to believe they were led into a trap by one of their own, but everything was looking that way. Oh she really wanted Chris there beside her, for support more than anything else.

The door to the "war" room opened and she got her first look at Trent, Drake replacement. The first thing she noticed was how well dressed he was for somebody supposedly to be in hiding and on the down low. Then she noticed his eyes, blue but very suspicious, looking everywhere as fast as they could. The he spotted her and looked her over like he was sizing her up. He gave her a warm looking smile, the only thing that was betraying it was the contempt she was getting from him. "Melissa," she said like he spotted a long lost friend, "it's nice you can finally see me. I've been trying to get a hold of you for a long time."

"Really," she said neutrally, "this is the first time I'm hearing of it."

"Well," he said as he sat down, "I'd imagine the message gotten lost along the way. You know how subordinates are."

"No I don't," she told him.

Lance agreed, "Neither do I."

"Yes," he looked unaffected, "I guess it's all in how you look at it." Chuckling he said, "I suppose this is about that snafu from the other night. Bad business that." The fact he wasn't even trying to act sympathetic was getting on her nerves. Not only her as she held up a hand at Arron behind her so he'd keep quirt.

"Snafu wouldn't be the word I'd use," she told him.

"Oh," he looked surprised, "and what word would you use?"

"How about ambush," Lance cut in, "trap, set up."

"I do believe that last one was two words," he chuckled. Was he enjoying this?

"I'm glad you're finding this funny," Lance snapped.

"Easy Lance," she whispered.

"I swear I didn't know Anderson's little army was going to show up," Trent said holding a hand over his heart. Melissa eyes narrowed a bit. For as long as she had her gift she knew there were several emotions connected to lying. She was reading several of them right now. "If I even suspected there was a chance they would have showed up I never would have sent you after the disc."

"That was five months out of date," she informed him. "As of last year to be exact."

He gave her a smile she'd only seen on con men and shady used car dealers, "I only said the disc was there. I had no way of knowing how accurate it was going to be."

"You knew the password to the file easily enough," Arron told him. "And you knew where the file was and in which office. So how could you not know how up to date it was?"

"No piece of information is perfect."

"Your piece of imperfect information cost us five people," Melissa said doing everything to stay under control. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing that.

As he slowly stood he finally lost the smug look, replaced by something that looked like borderline rage, "And we lost Drake! And from what we have been able to gather your men are still alive. Drake is dead because your people were too late to act."

"We did everything we could to save Drake," Melissa told him realizing were this rage was coming from.

"You didn't do enough," he said coldly. "Christopher supposed successor just stays here and does nothing."

"And what did you expect me to do if I was there?", she asked flat out. He wasn't expecting her to fight back from the look of things. "Just stand there and be a target as Anderson's men realized who I was? Even Drake wouldn't have stood for that after what happened to Chris."

"You're right," he begrudgingly admitted, "he wouldn't have." He straightened what he was wearing as he calmed down. "Sorry this is a bit of a sore spot with me. Especially with all the conflicting reports from that night. Our people, well my people now I suppose. The ones who got away were saying something like there were two Drakan Killers there that night."

She felt the sudden nervousness emitting from Arron. But Trent was looking right at her and she was betraying nothing. "I heard the same thing. It was rather hectic that night from what I understand."

"Yes, especially after Drake died. In fact," his eyes just burrowed into her, "some of mine, after Drake died, were swearing a couple of yours was dragging one of them off."

"Really now?". She looked at Arron, "You never told me you brought in the Drakan Killer."

"Slipped my mind," he said.

"That's a pretty big slip."

"Yes," Trent cut in. "It is rather strange that either one hardly been seen since then."

"Maybe they took each other out," she offered. "It's long been rumored the Drakan Killer left Anderson."

"Always a possibility," he admitted. "There is a rather strong scent of death around here, isn't there?", he asked almost casually.

"I stopped noticing al long time ago," she said flatly. "We've been jumped on a lot of raid or took on the Drakan Killer. Not all of them come back, especially when Anderson men are shooting to kill."

"I'm sure if I walked into your cell I'd smell a bit of a death scent," Lance added.

"I'm sure you would," he agreed. "But it does seem a little heavier around here for some reason. Almost like there somebody particularly good at killing Drakan as it were."

"It's a larger community," Melissa aid. "We just take people in. We don't know what they did before, all we ask is they don't cause any trouble while they're here."

"Right," he didn't look or feel like he was convinced. "Well thanks again for meeting with me." They shook hands and he left. Melissa revisited the urge to wipe her hand on her jeans.

"Does he know Jack's here?", Arron asked after a moment.

"He suspects it," she said. "But he can't prove it and it's eating at him."

"Good going keeping your cool kid," Lance told her. "I think Chris would have went off on him the moment he saw him. Trent is just the type of guy he loved putting in their place." She said nothing as she listened to him. Most of her attention was at the door. "Do you think he did it?"

Looking back at all the emotions she read off him she had her answer. "I just can't prove it."

***

Emily sat alone in her room trying to meditate. She had a very bad feeling after Trent came by and paid his respects. Nothing concrete nor a vision of anything. Just a feeling that overcame her for whatever reason. Best leave the feelings to the like of Melissa or some other child who knew them better than she did. Breathing in slowly she held it for a second before letting it out and felt her old bones relax considerably. Then she felt that familiar moving sensation she grew accustomed to.

When she opened her eyes she was greeted to a familiar sight. She was in her room and yet not in her room at the same time. Emily knew this because it happened before. And it was some what surprising she was there again. She looked at herself and Jack sometime in the future sitting on the floor of her room. He still had that look in his face and eyes that he had the first she had this vision, so nothing changed there. This time she looked around the room trying to find something to give her some kind of time frame. Anything that would give her an idea of when this was happening. She saw nothing as she felt the moving sensation again.

Opening her eyes one more time she was in her real room, sitting in the chair she was in when it started. Emily looked around her room. She had seen the past, she had seen the future. She had talked to the dead that were willing to speak and helped others do the same. But not once in her life has she ever had the same vision twice. It unnerved her more than anything she had experienced before. Mainly because she wasn't sure what it meant. Was it going to happen soon? Was it something she had time to prepare him and the other for? What did it mean?

***

Although she didn't want to admit it out loud, it was good to see Jack looking like his old self. Now if he would only cut his hair. Not that she minded the minded the long hair, she just kind of missed how he used to look. Rachel caught herself staring when she noticed Jack was looking at her. "What is there something in my teeth?", he asked.

"No," she said quickly. Thinking fast she added, "It just a little weird seeing your entire face again." That wasn't a total lie.

Jack kind of grinned, "Is it weird my face feels a little colder?"

"I think it's in your head. Come on, our shift is about to start." Ever since they started letting him go to the garden center it was almost impossible to get him to skip a day. She felt part of the reason was it got his mind off of things, even if it was only for awhile. And she had a feeling he didn't trust anybody with his own personal project down there. Granted it was a couple of stray flowers, but he looked at peace while he was tending to them. Even if he barely had any idea about what he was doing.

When they arrived the place was busier than usual. Arron waved from the other side when he saw them. Then she noticed something about the tool rack. Picking up one of the shovels she studied it before looking for Frank. "When did we get new tools?"

"Today," he answered. "I… uh… ran into a guy who owed me some money who finally decided to pay up. I figured it was about time we got some new equipment." Then he went to another part of the center yelling at somebody for not doing something right. Jack was staring at Frank scratching his chin slightly. She grinned, "That would look a little better if you still had the beard."

"What?", he was startled until he realized what he was doing. He eyes caught something and he sighed, "Alright who's idea of a joke?". Rachel turned around to see what he was looking at. Somebody had cordoned off his flowers with some stakes and rope.

"That was my idea," Arron said as he came up to them. "Well, mine and Sparky's. Neither of us wanted them to get stepped on or something by accident. Actually I'm amazed Frank agreed to let us do it. I guess coming into money put him in a good mood."

"Getting money suddenly does that to you," Jack said glancing back at Frank.

"That was very thoughtful of the two of you," she said. "Wasn't it Jack?"

"Yeah, thanks Fido," he said picking out a spade. "How did the meeting with what's his name go?"

"Don't worry about it man," Arron told him. "Nothing big happened."

"That bad huh?", Jack said.

"Worry about it after your done here," she told him. "This stuff isn't going to pick itself you know." Rachel grinned to herself, "And somebody has to do Sparky's workload."

"Thought that's why we had Fido here?", Jack actually reached up and patted Arron on the head.

"Would you stop it," Arron knocked his hand away. "I have half a mind to bury my foot in your ass."

Jack had the nerve to look hurt, "But I'm sick."

"In the head," Rachel said. "The rest of you is perfectly fine."

Arron grinned like a mad man, "So you've done a few personal inspections to verify this?"

Rachel face went warm almost immediately. Jack walked by with his head lowered muttering, "You so walked into that one."

***

The common area was busier than usual as several of the adults looked over the place. Emily looked over what she could s well. This was one of the few times she wished her particular gift could be turned on when she wanted without any delay or preparation. But if she hasn't figured it out by now she never would. She was so obsessed on her search she nearly ran into Jack who was coming around a corner, "Excuse me child."

"It's ok," he said. "But I'm starting to think I did something because that the third time I've almost been knocked down in the past ten minutes."

"It's nothing you've done child," she assured him. "One of the children is missing."

Concern immediately etched his face, "Which one?"

"Jennifer," she answered and continued her search.

"The one with the bear?", he asked following her. "How come nobody told me? I'd help look for her."

"I assume they didn't want to add to your burden."

"Screw my burden, a kid's missing," he told her. "When was the last time anybody saw her?"

"That was the first place everybody looked and we found nothing. Nobody could pick out her scent among those present."

"Isn't there a bloodhound around here?", he muttered. He joined her as they looked around the complex calling out her name. After awhile he asked, "Is there any chance she went outside?"

"Possible, but we have people looking by the exits."

"All the ones you know about," he said. "Trust me, as a former sneaky little kid, there gotta be a couple around here that you don't know about. Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"To find a kid who'll talk."

She was amazed at how tight lipped the children when it came down to finding any other way out of the habitat. Jack called it the code of the playground. You don't screw up a good thing you're not supposed to know about by telling an adult about it. After a few more children said nothing Jack stood there with his hands on his head and his eyes closed. Emily thought he was having another one of his episodes until she heard him whisper, "Think like a kid, think like a kid, think like a kid."

"I think I know where Jennifer went," said a boy who looked like he was barely a teenager.

"Where?", Jack asked immediately.

"There this pipe by the garden center," he began. "A lot of the smaller kids use it to play outside. Jennifer keeps starting out but stops because she's scared. The other kids make fun of her because of it. I told them to stop… I didn't think she actually go."

"It's alright child," Emily said, "you're doing the right thing. Now where does this pipe lead?"

"A construction site that's close by," he said. "I think it's abandoned, nobody been seen working there."

When Emily turned toward Jack he was already gone. She smiled to herself, "You're close to figuring out child. The moment you do I'll be there waiting for you."

***

"Jennifer!", Jack called out. He looked around trying not to get nervous. The kid was right, this place hasn't been used in awhile. Plenty of places for somebody to get hurt or… Just concentrate on finding the girl, "Jennifer!". Why did he go alone? He didn't even think about grabbing some of the others to help look. No, he went straight to his room, made sure there was still some foil in the hood and left. What was going through his head? "Jennifer! This ain't funny any more," he looked around and saw something on the ground. He hurried over and picked up a white teddy bear, "Polly," she had to be around here somewhere. He saw something out of the corner of his eye and hurry after it, "Hey!"

He caught up quickly enough and his heart nearly stopped. Jennifer was being held by a guy in some ragged clothes with his hand over her mouth. Finding his voice he demanded, "Let her go." The guy looked nervous, then he started sniffing the air. Jack went cold as his stomach tightened. Oh God, not here not now.

"Drakan Killer," he was getting all excited. "You can help me. This is a rebel brat, I know it. She won't tell where they are. But you, you can find them. Make her talk. Then I can show them I am worth something."

"Anything, just let her go." Why, did he go out alone? Some how Jennifer was able to get her mouth free and bit him. The guy let her go and she ran toward him. Jack pushed her behind him and started backing away. The guy started to look derange as he turned into a matted haired blue panther and charged at them. Jack grabbed Jennifer as the Drakan flew over them. Then it bared its claws and started swing away at him. Jack barely dodged each swing. He sidestepped one attack and spun around and without thinking he put his left arm up across his chest and the belt appeared.

The panther backed away but he was breathing hard and his heart was pounding away a mile a second. He couldn't do this, not any more. Then he saw Jennifer and finished the movements and weakly said, "Henshin." He took a step back as the armor formed around him. He was praying the Panther would turn tail and run. No such luck as he had to block when it started attacking again. Ducking one swing he reared his right arm back on instinct as he popped back up, fully intending to plant his fist into the cat's face. Again something stopped him from making a fist. He hesitated just long enough for the panther to kick him away. Then it pounced on him.

He covered up as the Drakan wailed away at him. Then it picked him up and threw him into one of the steel girders. Jack had no where to go as it jumped up and kicked him in the chest. He fell to his knees as the wind left him. The panther picked him back up and punched him again turning him around. Jack came back around with what should have been a vicious back hand, then he stopped a inch from the panther's head. What was wrong with him?! The panther had a disgusted look in it's eyes as it punched him in the gut. Being picked up and tossed he landed hard. Looking up he saw Jennifer huddled against a pillar watching them looking frightened. Staggering to his feet he never took his eyes off of her as he weakly pleaded, "Run." But she was frozen by fear.

"Weak!", the panther shouted. "Soft! You're soft. Just like the other, just like Anderson." He started ranting, "He has the right idea but he doesn't go far enough. He says kill those who don't come to their senses, but only the adults. No he says the children can be saved, brought back to the right path. But he's wrong, oh yes he's wrong. They're already contaminated with false ideas. If they want this stopped they have to eradicate all of it. Kill every last man, woman and child. Start with her to prove my point." Jack never took his eyes off of Jennifer as he listened to that mad man. Slowly, ever so slowly, his fingers started to curl and make a fist that started shaking.

A primal scream escaped his throat as he whipped around and charged the Panther. He wasn't even aware his fist flew until it made contact with the Drakan's nose. He didn't let up after that, letting this new burst of anger drive his actions. No, it wasn't anger, it was something else but it was damn close. The Drakan tried to fight back but he reached around and grabbed it by the neck and repeatedly drove his knee into it's head. Then he started hurling it into the pillars, it begged for him to stop and for mercy. Jack didn't find any. He threw it to the ground as the meter started flashing. He stalked the panther as he grabbed the pod and twisted it up, only thinking about what the Panther was saying only minutes before. The charge from the belt went up his side and down his arm as he waited for the bastard to get to it's feet. When it did he ran in screaming and tried to drive his fist through the Drakan's chest. The panther flew back and exploded.

Jack was breathing hard as he took a couple of steps back and looked at his armored hands. Breathing even harder he clenched both hands into fists as he dropped to his knees. Tilting his head back he let loose another scream at the sky above him. It was not a cry of sorrow. It was not a cry of desperation. It wasn't because he killed another Drakan. It was one born of frustration and confusion. Because something in his head clicked together and for one brief shining moment everything in his world made perfect sense. Then he lost it just as fast as he got it. Jack knew if he was ever going to be able to function again he had to get that moment back. And he thought he knew where to start. Or who to start with.


	36. Chapter 36

Episode 36

He was still on his knees when Rachel, Sparky and the others came running through the construction site. As the other quickly got Jennifer back to the underground Rachel and Sparky went immediately to him and tried to get him to talk. Finally he powered down the system and left without saying a word. Jack didn't head back to his room, or the room they put him in after he broke. He headed for the garden center and sat right by the flower he'd had been trying to help grow. He studied it for a long time, the buds just starting to open. Then he looked at his hand, he wasn't sure if he wanted to try to close it again or not. He thought about going postal on the panther, he needed, no he wanted answers.

And right now there was only one person he could think of that could have those answers. Getting up he ignored the thank yous for saving the kid and the concerns for his own well being. He even passed by Rachel and Melissa when they wanted to talk to him. The person he wanted was in her room. He got to her door and started to knock, then stopped. What was he thinking? He didn't believe in this stuff. Jack started to walk away but again he stopped. How else was he going to get any answers nobody else seemed able to give him? Jack started to knock, stopped, started to walk away, stopped and went to knock again.

"It's alright child," Emily called out from the other side of the door, "you may come in."

"How did…?", he wondered out loud. Looking at himself he went, "Oh yeah, Drakan blood." That had to be it. Entering he saw Emily sitting in a chair smiling at him. "Uh… hey."

"Hello," she greeted him. "I do believe this is the first time you've visited my humble dwelling." Jack didn't know what to say, he was trying not to look around. But he couldn't help looking at the plant on her table. She noticed him looking, "I hear we now have one similar interest. Although," it was like she was looking through him, which unnerved him a bit, "I doubt you've come to me for gardening tips."

"I guess not," he admitted. "Honestly I don't know why I'm here… I just knew I had… or I'd… do you mind if I take this jacket off?" She said she didn't so he quickly took it off and sat at the table. "Something happened when I was looking for the kid."

"That bit of news, as always, travels fast child."

"But I couldn't fight him, something kept stopping me when I tried. Then… then he started talking and…"

She finished for him, "You felt something. Something you didn't think you would be capable of feeling again." Not sure what to say he nodded. "Anger perhaps?"

"I don't know," he ran his fingers through his hair. "Then something else happened. I…," he paused. "I don't know why I'm even telling you this."

"Don't stop now child," she urged him. "Tell me what happened."

"I don't know how to describe it, things made sense then they didn't," he got up and walked around the room. "I just knew things had to make sense again or I'm never getting out of this."

She smiled softly, "I do believe I can help you child, or at least help you in the right direction."

"I knew the mumbo jumbo as going to start somewhere."

"Say what you want but I will do my best to help you. Help me to the floor child." Jack gave her a weird look but he did as she asked. Emily motioned for him to sit on the floor as well. She smiled again, "Sorry child, just remembering something." She reached under the bed and pulled out a square metal box, then she reached behind her and started putting pieces of wood into the box. "Tell me Jack, have you ever heard of a spirit quest?"

He thought about it for a few seconds, "I thought that was an Indian thing."

"Occasionally you humans have a good idea," she said with another smile. "This may sound strange child but I do believe this is the first step on your new journey." Emily lit a match and threw it into the box. Slowly smoke started to come from the burning wood, it almost had a sweet scent to it. "This is a journey you must take alone, but not alone." Her skin went all leathery and scaly as she changed into a red crocodile before his eyes. "I will be here, but you will be guided by somebody else. Now relax, clear your mind of all thought and close your eyes," she said soothingly and he followed her order. "Now slowly inhale the smoke, let it fill you body, mind and soul."

Inhaling deeply he felt the tension quickly melt away. He was actually starting to fell sleepy. Outside of a slight moving sensation he was totally at piece, but he wasn't getting any answers. "When am I going to know this is working?" Emily didn't answer so he opened his eyes. "Whoa!", he exclaimed as he shot to his feet.

He wasn't in Emily room anymore. He wasn't sure where he was as he looked around. A heavy fog surrounded but he could make out some various shapes of rocks and boulders around him. Jack touched one, it felt real enough. "Emily I don't know if you can hear me or not but whatever that wood is you could probably get a good street price for it. Great I'm starting to think like my Uncle's friends."

Then he noticed something else in the fog. Shapes where roaming round beyond the boulders. Looking closer he noticed the shapes were a mixture of human and animals, Drakans. Then he got a better look and realized he knew these Drakans. He killed them. "So know what?" he asked the ghosts. "I'm here so what do you want?" They ignored him as they moved around. "Do you want me to say I'm sorry, is that it?", he asked. "I'm sorry alright. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I killed you," he said pointing at red octopus, "I'm sorry I killed you," he looked at a red kangaroo, "I'm sorry I killed you," he turned to a blue scorpion, "I'm…," and he trailed off.

Standing right in front of him was a green shark, with four scars running across it's chest. He was looking at Allen. Slowly he shook his finger at the ghost and thought it over. "Actually I think I'm glad I killed you, because this is the first time I've seen you since then. Is that why it happened? I'm actually glad I killed one of them."

"The answer is not that simple," a voice said startling him. Jack looked around trying to locate the sound. He tried to remember what he had heard about this, there was usually an animal there as a spirit guide. Find the animal and you find the voice. He looked around the area several times and found nothing. Then out of the corner of his eye a small hint of movement on one of the boulders caught his attention. Jack looked closer and saw a dragonfly sitting on top of the boulder.

"You," he said after a moment, "are my spirit guide?"

"Yes I am," the fact the thing that little was talking with that deep of a voice wasn't blowing his mind still amazed him.

But he did start laughing, "Oh it is official." He turned around and looked at the foggy sky above him as he yelled, "Whoever running this thing has a sick sense of humor!"

"This is no joke Jack Davidson, I am here to help to help you through this."

Jack held his head, "How helpful are you going to be when I know you're gonna say something to tick me off and I get the urge to squish you?"

"I am aware of this possibility. Which is why I've brought along someone you'll be more likely to listen to."

Jack could hear footsteps in the silence around them, and they were getting closer. He turned his head to see a new image come through the fog. The closer the shape got the more he recognized it. Curly hair and glasses came into views the shape stopped a few feet away and Jack was lost for words. The newcomer spoke, "No offence bud, but you look like hell."

He stared for a long time before going, "Richie?"

***

Rachel was dumfounded when Jack just walked right past her and Melissa. Not to mention a little hurt when she realized he was heading straight for Emily's room. By the time she caught up he had already entered. She was going to check on him when Melissa dragged her off in the other direction over her protest. Right now they were in a quieter area and Melissa just sat by as she ranted, "Why couldn't he come to me? That's all I'm asking. This entire time I've been with him through everything. All the high, all the lows, all the normal points who was there? Me. And he has to be in a weird spot in his head right now, so who does he go too? Emily. The person who hid this from him!"

Melissa wasn't helping anything as she sat there smiling the whole time, "My God, you're actually jealous of Emily."

"I am…," she started before subduing herself, "I am not."

"Try hiding that from somebody else," she told her. Melissa looked like she was thinking something over. "Look, I have to be honest about something here."

"Now what, your Grandfather supplying the Drakan fighters for your cousin?", Rachel snapped.

"You do realize that something Jack would say right? But he's not here right now so I guess somebody had to say it. You might not believe this but Emily is the reason why the two of you are here."

Rachel finally sat down, "So she 'saw' us here?"

"She saw Jack," Melissa explained. "Nobody even knew you were in the picture."

"I remember Sparky saying nobody was expecting two of us," Rachel told her.

Melissa nodded and continued, "But Emily didn't know what was going to happen to him. All she knew was that at some point Jack was going to come to her for help. With that she started to convince me that having him here was a good idea."

"I always thought that invitation was a little out of the blue," Rachel commented.

"Oh I didn't agree right away," she said. "Honestly I was dead set against it when she brought it up. Not just the idea of the nightmare it would cause if the other cells ever found out I was harboring the Drakan Killer. Just the idea she was asking to invite the man who killed my brother to live here with open arms. I though she lost her mind."

"Then why did you make the offer?"

"Because in her own way Emily is very persistent," she said with a smile. "She won't badger you out right, but she has her ways. Like the note she left me detailing her vision. I figured she wasn't going to let it go so I started thinking of the possibility of a small alliance. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, that sort of thing. Then I gave the note to Lance to get his opinion." She laughed a bit, "Actually I was hoping he'd tell me I was crazy for even considering it." Rachel laughed along despite herself. "No the idiot said the idea might be a good idea, if we where careful. So the three of us got together and planned this out.

"Then I threw in the monkey wrench," Rachel added.

"Don't get me wrong, Friedman told us you left with him. Nobody informed us you were that close. Well at least not until Dusty fought for you to stay here with him. And trust me I'm glad I did agree because you have been a God send."

"I didn't do that much. Actually there were a few times I thought I was more of a hindrance than anything else."

"There I am disagreeing with you. People were watching the two of you those first couple of week. And from what I've heard you have definitely been a calming influence."

"Everybody was a little on edge. I knew Jack was just waiting for somebody to start something."

"But you calmed things down. Well except for that time with Jason, which took just about everybody by surprise," she laughed again. "But you're right, people were on edge, and I think some people were just itching for a fight. Your first night here I went to check on the two of you to see if you were settling in alright and I saw Jack standing outside your door. Then I heard a couple of mine coming around the corner planning on getting some revenge on him or you. I got the feeling if I didn't make my presence known there would have been a fight right then and there."

"I wondered why he wanted me to head back with Dusty the next day," Rachel said remembering. "He never told me there was a problem.

"He didn't want to tell me either, he tried to make it sound like something else entirely." Melissa looked her in the eyes for a long time. "Look, I know how you feel about him. And I've kept that trust you placed in me. And these past few months I've watch you run yourself ragged trying to shoulder the entire situation." She reached out and placed a hand on hers, "I'm saying this as a friend, it's time to let somebody else helped him. Believe me, I doubt Jack would have gotten as far as he did as fast as he did without you there every step of the way. But if something is telling him he needs to talk to Emily right now you should let him. I know it's hard but I think it's for the best."

Rachel conceded, "I know you're right. Another point of view would be a good thing right now. Maybe I care about him too much, I don't even think he feels the same way."

Melissa just gave her a knowing smirked, "Some how I doubt he'd be standing there outside you guy's door that night if he was just worried about himself."

***

Jack circled Richie totally stunned at what he was seeing. Richie stood there patiently waiting for the shock to go away. Without thinking Jack started poking at him as he walked around him. Until Richie reached out and finger flicked him between the eyes. "Hey!", Jack cried out in protest

"Do you have any idea how annoying that is?", Richie asked him. Jack punched him in the shoulder, "Ow." Richie started rubbing his shoulder, "You're not suppose to hit the dead you jerk."

"The dead's not suppose to be able to hit you at all," Jack shot back. Rubbing between his eyes a little he said, "Alright, I believe it, it's you." Jack took a moment to flex the fingers a few times. "I guess that answers that question."

"And it's about time you got over that block of your man. You just needed the right trigger to get over it."

"I need to sit down," Jack said and sat on the nearest boulder. "Ok, you're suppose to help me out here right?" Richie nodded as he sat on the next boulder. "Can you at least tell me why me? Why am I the one going through this crap?"

Richie leaned in, "Because you're a cynical son of a bitch."

"Did a dead man just… where did you go?", he asked looking for the dragonfly. It was nowhere to be found. "Some spirit guide you are!"

"He probably thinks there's going to be a fight," Richie chuckled. "Too bad nobody gave me a two by four to knock some sense into you. But it was you all along, the moment we were caught in that avalanche this is what you were suppose to do."

"I'm not cut out for this," Jack argued, "that should be pretty obvious. It should have been you, all this stuff is right up your alley."

Richie started shaking his head, "Sorry man, but I am not the right guy for this particular job."

"What are you talking about? You ate this stuff up growing up."

"And what happened when I was living it? As you put it I had my head up my ass. And somebody had to be able to see through Anderson's lies and that wasn't me. You grew up seeing people who weren't who they said they were. You never took anything at face value. You're always looking for that little something that'll prove your assumption right. That's why you automatically suspected that girl you're with twice when you found out Anderson had something like us up his sleeves. And on a side note, what taking you so long? She's hot, for what ever reason likes you and you're into her. Before this happened you wouldn't have thought twice about asking her out."

Jack got real defensive real quick, "Keep Rachel out of this." He walked around, "Alright then if this was suppose to me all along why did I have that breakdown? If I was suppose to be this great warrior this never should have happened."

His best friend looked sympathetic, "Because you're still human, and part of you was refusing to feel the guilt."

"I was feeling guilty," Jack said suddenly. "I was just feeling less guilt as things went on."

"Part of you head was forcing yourself to feel less guilt each time. Part of you was convinced you wouldn't be able to live with the guilt that you were shoving it down, getting a little more each time. But it was coming out in other ways after awhile. Remember how tired you were getting some times? Then the nightmares started to happen. Seeing the ones you killed while you were awake. That was the guilt making itself known. And as much as I hate to tell you this you should have gone through this a lot earlier."

He wanted to demand when but deep down he already knew. "When I fought Christopher." Richie nodded again. "After I killed him the other surrounded him and howled. I remember being overwhelmed with all these emotions. I remember thinking I had to get out of there or… If I was suppose to go through this then what happened?"

"You know what happened," Richie said sadly. The fog around them changed into a version of the arena. He was seeing himself and the other Drakans looking at the upper level. Anderson men had them surrounded and were about to fire. "This stopped it. This one event filled you with so much rage it basically patched that break inside you. And I'll give you credit for being so stubborn because you held it together for so long through sheer force of will. But you kept pushing down the guilt and the pressure kept building. It was like having a damn with a two foot crack in it and patching it with Band-Aids. No matter how many you put on eventually the crack is going to win."

"So now what? And how is this suppose to help me? I realized something when I was rescuing Jennifer and I can't remember it now. That's why I'm here. I can't keep feeling rage every time I fight a Drakan if this is what I'm supposed to be doing."

"You weren't feeling rage that last time," Richie informed him. "And deep down you know that."

"Then what was it?", Jack demanded.

"Would you believe righteous fury?" Jack walked away feeling disgusted. Richie followed him, "Do you want to know why you had that moment? For a brief moment you found your reason to fight. You couldn't keep fighting for revenge. You couldn't keep fighting for survival. Those reasons got you here. Because when that bastard was talking you found out a way you could live with the guilt, even if it was just for a moment. It's the same exact thing when you discovered that other bastard sent you after those kids. You realized she needed a protector, you realized they needed a defender."

Jack interrupted him figuring out where he was going, "You start in on that champion of justice crap and I'm kicking your dead ass right now."

"You know I'm right," Richie told him. "You had flashes of it a few time now. When you didn't even think twice about going after the girl. When you were willing to let the wolf and the kids go. When you saved a person who turned out to rebel's future leader. When you went to save her friend no questions asked. Letting the monkey live the second time you fought him. Protecting Rachel when you thought the wolf was going to go after her. Deciding to save Rachel over killing the monkey when you had the chance. Forcing yourself to move to stop that elephant from hurting her. Are we seeing a pattern yet?" He started smiling, "Especially with those last three."

Jack turned away muttering, "Now the dead poking into my love life." Turning back around he demanded, "And how do you know this stuff? You were floating in goop for most of it."

"Do you really think I'm going to brought in to help my best friend and not be given the ammo to back me up? And I think 'Lack of a love life' were the words you were looking for. Look man everybody has a path they take in life. That path get's altered by the decision we make and the decision other people make. The avalanche that happened to us set you on a certain path. Unfortunately the path was harder on you than anybody wanted."

"Does this path have a destination?"

"Anderson," Richie answered. "This path ends the moment you face him."

"Then I'll head to World Inc. tomorrow and knock on the front door."

"It doesn't work like that Jack. Look fate won't be denied but it hates being rushed too. You are not ready for that fight, even before you broke you weren't even close. You have to go through a few more battles before you are."

"If I choose to go through those battles," Jack said suddenly. "You and a couple of other have told me I have a choice. I can walk away and leave right now."

"Yes you can," Richie agreed. "But you'd be always looking over your shoulder. Always worried if you're going to get caught or of you're going to slip up. Not to mention any Drakan you likely to come across. Like you told me not all of them are willing to over look the smell of Drakan Blood. And that would put you back on Anderson's radar." Part of the fog parted revealing the Fusion armor. "No matter what you do now this is your life now. This is you."

"No. This is not me," Jack said, the word tipped with the anger he was suddenly feeling. He rushed in to push the armor down. The armor fought back. Giving into his rage he tackled the armor, both of them going through the Drakan ghosts walking around. Jack unleashed fist after fist on the armor trying to drive it away. The armor ducked his last swing and stated punching back. He was vaguely aware of Richie just sitting back with his arm crossed watching the whole thing. The armor surprised him with a kick to the head but he didn't go down. Jack caught a punch and flipped it over his shoulder.

The armor got up and went for another kick as Jack went for the same move, essentially blocking each other. Jack spun around for a backhand and hit the fore arm of the armor as it did the same. They continued to fight as their moves mirrored each other. Jack didn't really notice until he reared back his right hand and held it there as the armor did the same. Slowly both of them lowered their arms as Richie looked at him, "Yes, I do believe it's finally sinking through that thick skull of his."

Staring at the armor he said, "I don't want this to be me."

Richie looked sympathetic as he walked up, "I don't want it to be you either, but it is. The final decision is your, it always has been. But listen to me for once, the people around you need a defender, a champion, be it. Think it over." Richie had a far away look on his face for a few seconds, When he came back he looked a little sad, "I think my time almost up. Before I have to go I have to tell you one thing. This path may take you to Anderson but there's no guarantee you'll make it. Nothing is written in stone. You could make a misstep during a fight, you could react a little late to an ambush." He shrugged, "Somebody could push Anderson in front of an oncoming bus. But either way they need a champion. I'm feeling a bit of a tug here so I guess this is goodbye again."

Jack was almost overwhelmed by the sadness he was feeling, "Richie, I'm sorry I…"

"Don't be, you did what you thought you had to do. No grudges on my part."

Tears filled his eyes, "I miss you man."

"I miss you too bud," Richie pulled Jack into a hug. Pulling away he added, "But it better be a long ass time before I see your ugly mug again."

"I'll do what I can." After a moment he said, "I'm still killing the monkey."

"Do you see me talking you out of it? Go, blow him to hell. If it wasn't for him neither one of us would be in this mess." Richie started to fad away as the fog got thicker. He was almost gone when Jack heard, "And you better take good care of her. You don't and screw this up I will haunt you for the rest of your life." The fog got so thick Jack couldn't see him or his hand in front of his face. Then he felt like he was moving while he was standing still.

***

Emily watched him as he slowly open his eyes and came out of it. He looked around not sure if he actually experienced what he did. A common look for first timers. She returned to her human form and waited. After a few moments he said, "I was not expecting anything like that."

"Nobody sees what they expect child," she told him. "Nor in the same way they experienced others." Jack sat there, from the look of things he was still trying to wrap his head around it. "Hardly anybody can fully process what they saw right away. More time that not they need time to process it all completely. Take that time child, as always I am here for you if you need somebody to help you through it." He still looked unsure of it all. "I am sure you have your answer. It is up to you if you want to accept it or not."

"I'm sorry," he said getting up. "I… I need some air."

"Of course child," she said. "Melissa needs to do the same herself after some of her more intense visions." Jack grabbed his jacket and left. She watched him closely the entire time, particularly his eyes. For a long time now they were almost lifeless. Now she was sure there was a small spark in them that wasn't there before. Time would tell if that spark would die out or grow into a roaring flame. The choice was his one way or the other.


	37. Chapter 37

Episode 37

Jack sat there trying to get his breathing under control. It had been a week since he had that… experience with Emily. His ghosts were slowly disappearing for awhile now, especially since he told Rachel and Dusty where they apparently came from. It was almost like talking about why he was doing it was what they wanted. They even let him start sleeping in his own room and cot again. The nightmares on the other hand… no they were still there in full force. He still didn't even know who they were going after it changed.

"You're up?", Rachel asked from her bed while propping herself up on a elbow.

"I'm fine and no change," he said anticipating the next two questions. "I'm going for a walk."

"Want some company?", she asked. "Or is this one of those 'need to think' walks?"

"Guess I've been going on those a lot huh?"

"Whatever it takes to get your head on straight. Just let me know if you have a breakthrough," she told him as she lay back down.

"Unless I have one so exciting I tell the first person I see you're next in line."

"That's nice," she said. Jack stood there by the door for a second and just watched her lay there before leaving.

He walked the halls not really paying attention to where he was going. He absentmindedly greeted anybody he came across but he never stayed longer than that. Before long he was standing in the common area, which was still kind of busy despite the time of night. Jack watched them for awhile. They looked and acted happy despite the fact they were living underground. One particular group was laughing loudly. Nobody was paying him any attention, even with him reeking of Drakan Blood. Would they still be acting like this if he wasn't around? Would any of them still even be around if he never showed up at all? Would they be dead or captured by now if he never took Melissa's offer?

"It's almost like you're seeing things for the first time isn't it?", Emily said walking up behind him. "You're up kind of late," she commented when he didn't answer.

"Had a nightmare," was all he said. "I just wish I knew why they were still coming."

"Did you think your problems would go away after your journey?"

Not sure what to say for a second Jack just went, "Kinda."

"They always do," she said tiredly. "Injuries to the body, those will heal, although some will leave lasting reminders." She gesture to the scars visible on his arms. "But injuries to the mind and spirit, those take longer to heal. And rarely heal fully."

"So your saying I'm stuck with these sleepless nights for God knows how long?" Emily didn't respond but she did lower her head slightly. "I better get used to taking naps during the day again."

"It's good to see you in high spirits child," she told him. "Walk me back to my room?". He said he would let her take his arm. After awhile she said, "You never answered my original question."

"I don't know what to think any more. I don't even know where I'm should be going."

"That's funny," she said thoughtfully, "I was under the impression your friend gave you a very definite direction to go in."

Jack stopped looking confused as Emily kept on walking, "Wait, you over… how did…?"

She stopped and turned to face him, "While you went on your journey on your own, I was the anchor point to make sure you didn't go so far that you become lost. And while I never intend to intentionally eavesdrop occasionally something slips through, depending on the strength of the connection. Child, I have rarely seen a connection as strong as what you two had. The only question is, why aren't you listening to him?"

He didn't even try to cover up the annoyance he was feeling," You'll forgive me if I have a hard time swallowing the idea that my only way out of this mess is to add to it."

"No one said this would be easy child," Emily said calmly. "But your friend was right, they need you to be there as their champion."

He pointed behind him at the common area, "They won't accept me as their champion."

She walked up and put a hand on his shoulder, "A champion doesn't do what he does because he wants to be accepted. He does it because he knows it is the right thing to do and he's the only one who can."

"I don't deserve to be their champion," he said walking away. "I've killed these people. I've killed their friends. I've killed their family. I killed Melissa's brother for Christ sakes!" Hanging his head a bit he said a little calmer, "He should have been their champion, not me."

"He was their champion child," she told him softly. "Much like yourself he was reluctant to take the role, but they would have not gotten this far without his voice guiding them. But as with all thing as time passes needs change. He was who they needed then. You are who they need now. Christopher helped them to their feet to start the fight. You need to help them fight."

"Melissa…," he started to say.

"She has her role in this and she is fulfilling it now," Emily cut him off. "In fact Christopher would be proud at how fast she took to the role despite her fear and reluctance." She looked him in the eyes, "There is a spark within you child, and only you can decide if it dies out completely or grows into something larger. If you want to fulfill your destiny you must be forged in the fires of your upcoming battles to become something stronger. Nobody can force you to choose, but all I ask is that you think it over before that spark dies out completely."

"That's a lot to put on one guys shoulders," he informed her.

"Christopher told me something similar," she said as she took his arm again. As they headed back to her room she added, "There are times I'm surprised at how many similarities you two have."

"So, what, you're saying we would have been fast friends?"

"Oh child no," she chuckled and patted his arm. "There is no doubt in my mind that the two of you would have been at each other throats after a week."

***

Rachel wasn't sure why Melissa wanted to talk to her alone. It couldn't be for an update on Jack. She talked to her, Arron, Dusty and Sparky almost daily and Jack usually comes up at least once. And it had been months since she whacked Jason in the nuts with the staff. It would be kind of strange to reprimand her now. Well she'd find out when she got there. Like she said she would be Melissa was in the cafeteria. "Rachel," she greeted her friendly enough. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"No, I'm fine," she replied as she sat across from her. "So what did you want to see me about?"

She actually looked embarrassed, "I know the timing of this is going to seem strange but after our last conversation I couldn't remember the last time I asked to see how you were holding up with all the things Jack was going through."

"It's a little late to be asking me now isn't it?"

"I know and I feel horrible. I was so worried about the spot I put Jack in I forgot about you. Even while you were trying to shoulder the entire thing."

"As you can see I held up pretty well," Rachel said. "My sanity is intact, probably a bad choice of words considering the situation."

"And trust me there were a few times I worried about that," Melissa admitted. "They way we had to fight to get you to take a break, even if it was for five minutes. Dusty was even worried about you."

"I never really noticed to be honest."

"I'm surprised you noticed anything else. Not that I'm trying to undermine your determination or anything. Like I told you last time, I doubt he would have gotten as far as he did as fast as he did without you."

"I'm sure if somebody else was his mission operator for this long they would have gotten the same results."

"You're cutting yourself short. There's a reason why Dusty didn't argue all that much when you basically became his primary provider."

"Dusty has a habit of seeing things that's not there," Rachel countered. "Trust me, Jack and me compared notes about this. We're pretty sure he was trying to get us to get together."

Melissa just looked at her, "But you do want to…"

"I know what I told you," she said suddenly. "And I also told you if anything was going to happen it would have before now."

"And as long as you sit in idle nothing going to happen. How do you know what's going to happen if you don't try. Why don't you make the first move?"

Rachel started getting irritated, "Why are you pushing this?"

"I'm just curious," Melissa admitted. "What is the reason why you're not doing anything? And don't give me that excuse you gave me last time about him thinking you're too high maintenance. We both know better."

Rachel debated to herself for a few moments before answering. "You seen those looks he gave me every time Anderson threw a new twist at us. I just get the feeling part of him still sees me as part of World Inc."

"Rachel…," Melissa said, looking unsure on how to continue.

"We worked things out after Richie. I'm just afraid that if we did get together and Anderson threw something new at us it would start all over again."

"After everything that's happened do you really think he's going to do that again?"

"I don't know… I," she trailed off. "Is that all you wanted from me?"

"There was one more thing," Melissa said as Rachel started to get up. "It also occurred to me I barely know anything about you. With deal with each other just about every day and outside of the occasional snippet here and there you're pretty much a blank slate."

"And I can say the same about you," Rachel told her.

"Maybe it's time we changed that, she said. "Like how did you get involved in all of this to begin with?". Rachel started to laugh slightly. "What's so funny?"

"It might only be funny to me, but after we moved in with Dusty Jack finally got around to asking me that same question. As to how, let's just say I walked into the middle of a skirmish."

***

Anderson looked at the map on the Command Center wall with interest. Williams was marking out a spot her and Perez discussed after they went after the information they were given. Perez looked apprehensive, "You sure we can trust this information?"

"Not particularly Mr. Perez," He admitted. "But it was given as a show of good faith. An attempt to prove their trustworthiness."

"By selling out their own?", Williams asked.

"That thought did cross my mind Mrs. Williams. Normally I would turn down there offer, but the supposed target is a little too good to pass up."

"So this would hurt the rebels if we get her?", Perez asked.

"More morally than physically," Anderson informed him. "Sometimes the gain is worth the risk. Although that doesn't mean we have to be stupid. Do you have a plan in place Mr. Perez?"

"Well that's going to depend on what kind of security she's going to have around her."

Ah, the daily juggling act he had to perform when he was around humans. Exactly how much information should he give away and in what manner and not appear suspicious. "I already spoken to some of our Drakan contacts," he started. "She likes to travel with a small an entourage as possible. At most she'll have a guard and a driver. So resistance should be light."

"How were you able to get all of that?" , Perez asked, obviously impressed.

"As tactfully as possible. There no need in angering our allies unnecessarily after all. And as long as we are careful with the target."

"Right," Perez looked a little disappointed. "So a small task force then. Maybe about three or four. And, if you will agree, a larger force that will be held back, just in case it is a trap."

Anderson thought it over, "I would say that would be agreeable. You paid my attention to my words Mr. Perez, I am impressed. Prep the right people for the job and have them waiting at the target area in advance. And I must point out as little violence as possible. As I said there's no point in angering our allies." Not to mention a more powerful alpha. That was the last thing needed at this point." And might I add, any unnecessary violence that harms the target and the consequences will be harsh and dealt out by me. Is that clear Mr. Perez?"

"Yes sir it is."

"Good, "I'll let you do your job then."

***

Melissa got into the habit of walking around the habitat, just make sure everything was alright with those under her. She could never just hang back and give orders, she just had to see how everybody was. Melissa was too connected to these people to do otherwise. Although she was a little surprised to find Jack sitting by himself and looking at the ceiling. He gave her a friendly wave and said hello. But right before she overheard him mutter, "Champion? I don't even know what the hell that's supposed to mean." Melissa really wanted to ask what that was about. But she figured it had something to do with his thing with Emily, so it was best to leave it alone. Just for his privacy if nothing else.

"Hi Melissa," Rachel said as she joined her. "Doing your nightly rounds I see."

"I never told you about these," she informed her.

"'I've seen you do it before a couple of times," Rachel said. "I have very good observational skills. It's why I insisted on going out in the field. I figured I could help out if I was able to spot something out of the ordinary." She sighed, "Too bad I didn't see the obvious right before my eyes a couple of times."

Here were at least two things that could have been about. So Melissa went with the one that surprisingly bothered her as much as it did. "Despite at how proud my cousin is of who and what he is he is very good at hiding what he is from the, and I'm quoting, 'lower species'."

"No offence but the more I learn about your cousin the more I learning to despise him."

"Hey at least you quit, I'm still related to him. So why are you joining me on this particular 'round' as you put it."

"Honestly I enjoyed our talk earlier, and I noticed you looked a little anxious. Thought I could come over and see what was wrong."

"Emily been requested to do what she does at another cell. I always get a little nervous when she leaves the habitat."

"Then why doesn't the person come here?"," Rachel asked. "She does have one of those tracking chips in her head."

"Normally they do, but every so often she takes a trip to their cell. She calls it an itch top stretch her legs. She does so much around here it's hard to tell her no when she makes the request. Well that and she a wicked shot with that cane of hers," they shared a laugh. "It does her good to get out every so often I guess. Nobody wants to stay cooped up down her all the time."

"You don't have to tell that to the kids down her," Rachel commented.

"Well to be honest I knew there were a few ways out of here that the children were using. Not the one leading to that construction site. I would have had that sealed off the moment I found out about it."

"I guess that would explain the wielding team in that pipe. The kids looked really disappointed. I was afraid they would take it out on Jennifer. I think they were before Jack gave them that look."

"If you think his look is something you should have seen the one Chris used to give them. I wanted to shut up and behave."

"Then you should see my Mother's look. My Dad swore the kids down the street started acting right. But that's nothing compared to my Aunt's. She actually made a gator stop coming at her."

Melissa shook a finger at her, "Now you're pulling my leg."

"Heart to God it happened," Rachel said. Melissa was still shaking her head in disbelief. "I was there I saw it happen. Nobody believes me when I tell this story." Rachel stopped and held her arms out, "Look, I'm giving you permission, read me and tell me I'm not telling the truth."

"I'm sure you believe you seen what you think you saw at whatever young age you were."

"I was seventeen."

"Did you tell this story to Jack?"

"And Dusty and they both laughed in my face."

"Well it a ridicules story if you think about it." A strong sense of anxiety made her stop and look back. Arron came running toward her. Even Jack got up to see what was so important. She tried not to think of the worst scenario possible. "What is it?"

"We just got a call from Emily's driver," he said between breaths. "They were ambushed by Anderson's men. There last location was one of the back roads outside of town." Melissa tried not to panic, that was one of the scenarios racing her head. She knew they needed to get a rescue party together now. Then she saw Jack running for the garage. Please do not let him be late for this one.

***

Her captors took her age into account as they sat her in the van, although still tied and gagged. Her escorts were on the ground tied together as Anderson's men guarded them. "How long to we have to stay here?", the one by her asked. "We could have had this old bat back at HQ by now."

"Anderson's orders," a second one spoke. "Perez said he wanted to escort her back personally."

"She's just a Drakan, and an old one at that. Why even waste his time or risk his safety?"

"I don't know, something about keeping our Drakan contacts happy or some crap."

"I still say we should just shoot them all, bunch of freaks."

"Don't let the boss hear you say that. He gets a… bit testy."

"Whatever," he waved him off. This had been going on for a while now. It was starting to test her patience. Emily closed her eyes to find her center and calm herself. A sound of an incoming engine broke her concentration. She didn't know much about cars but that sounded a little fast for it to be Anderson. Opening her eyes and looking around she saw a single headlight coming toward them. Her guards took a defensive position as the bike turned sharply and skidded to a stop. The rider took his helmet off, "Holy crap it's Davidson." Emily held her head up, not in relief but to show she was proud. She looked in his eyes and saw a fire within them. He made his choice.

***

Jack looked around quickly as he got off the bike. He was damn lucky they didn't open fire yet. Sadly he recognized one of them from that party at that bar from awhile back. Might as well get this over with while they were still in a state of shock. "You have until I activate the system to let them go," he told them. Without any hesitation he got his left arm up, the belt appeared and he finished the movements, "Henshin!" He stood there as the armor formed around him. The next move was theirs.

The moron from the party decided to lower his weapon and walk toward him. "We got nothing to worry about. Didn't you hear? He's not right in the head. Lost the will to fight and all that crap. What are you going to do Davidson? Send your ghosts after us?" Jack waited second before punching him in the nose. He felt it give and it started gushing blood as the moron backed away. Jack was hoping he do something that stupid.

Looking at the other two he went, "Next." God, he hadn't felt like this in a long time. Another one came at him with a shock stick in hand. Jack kicked him in the gut and he went down immediately. The third one went into a fighting stance as a pair of fin like wings grew out of his back as he transformed into a red stingray. "Of course one would show up when I'm around," he muttered as he got ready and waved him on.

The stingray wasted no time in rushing at him. Jack followed suit, jumping up at the last second and jamming his knee into it's chest. The Drakan backed up a step and came back at him. Jack quickly found himself on the defense as the Drakan started swinging away. The armor on his forearms absorbed the blows and waited for an opening. He saw it and kicked the Drakan in the stomach. But the stingray saw it coming and backed away so the blow only grazed it. Then it spun around and Jack had to jump out of the way to avoid it's tail coming at him. When it turned back around Jack rushed in and smashed his forearm into the Drakan's face. The Drakan tried to swing widely and Jack quickly blocked the blow. But it left him open as a knee smashed into his back. Another club like blow smashed into his neck stunning him. Before Jack knew it he was air born and slamming into the side of the van.

Pulling himself up he gave a quick glance to Emily to make sure she was alright. To nobody in particular he mumbled, "Think I'm a little rusty." Clearing his head he looked up and dropped back down, "Whoa!" and a fist flew over his head and smashed the window behind him. Jack popped back up catching the stingray around the waist and ran foreword before driving him to the ground. Jack started punching away until it's tail smacked him in the back. It didn't hurt, just distracted him long enough for the stingray to get a shot in. Then another and another until he was forced off. Jack sat there just long enough to get the cobwebs out of his head and kick the Drakan legs out from under it as it tried to get up. Both of them scrambled to their feet and continued to pound at each other.

The meter started flashing and he wasn't seeing a chance to do anything. Time to make one. Jack ducked a right cross and doubled it over with a fist to the gut. Grabbing one of it's fin he tossed it away from Emily and the van and ran in with a shoulder block to knock it further away. Quickly backing up he twisted the right pod down. The turbines in his belt started spinning and the energy was redirected as it ran down his leg. As the Drakan got to it's feet Jack ran foreword, jumped up and extended his right leg. His foot connected with the Stingray's chest and it flew back and exploded. Going down to a knee and breathing hard he said, "Ok, maybe I'm a lot rusty." A pair of familiar vans pulled up shortly afterwards and Rachel, Melissa and the others piled out. "Oh, now you show up."

"Jack!", Rachel and Melissa both cried out.

He pointed toward the other van, "Emily over there, don't worry about me." Melissa and the others did that but Rachel still checked on him. Standing up he tapped Sparky on the arm and motioned to the moron from the bar, whose nose was still bleeding, "That guy a human or a Drakan?". He had an idea but he just wanted to be sure.

"Does it matter?", Sparky asked.

"No, not really." Jack walked over and hauled him up by the front of his shirt. Staring into two very frightened eyes he said, "Tell Anderson that if he has a problem with this to grow a set and deal with it himself. Because they are defended." God that sounded corny as hell, but strangely enough it felt good. He still didn't know what being a champion meant but saying that still felt good. Dropping him he turned around and deactivated the systems.

"Thank you," Melissa said as she ran to him and hugged him around the neck.

"Just doing what I thought I had to do," he told her.

"I wasn't sure what was going on," Sparky said. "You came in the garage demanding to know what route she took and shot out of there like a bat out of hell."

"Don't you mean a dragonfly out of hell," somebody joked.

"Cute," Jack said. Emily came up to him, "Are you alright?"

"I am fine child," she said, "but you may have a problem." She looked at the World Inc. trooper.

"Now what he's going to go through?", Rachel asked looking at both of them.

"That goober," he said pointing to the one from the bar, "mentioned my ghosts. We were the only one who knew about that so somebody had to tell Anderson about it."

"Who would have told him?", Melissa wondered out loud.

"I think I got an idea who." He looked at Rachel who looked away with a hurt expression on her face. Melissa was about to say something but he spoke first. "We go those new tools about a week or so ago right?"

"What…," Rachel was shocked for a second, "yeah we did. Wait, you don't think…?"

"Just keeping our options open."

***

Anderson sat at his desk as the phone rang. Picking it up he didn't have a chance to speak as he heard, "So was my information accurate?"

"Yes it was," he said. "But unfortunately Davidson made a surprise appearance." Not that he would say it out loud but part of him was actually glad Davidson apparently got out of his troubles.

"I had a feeling he might," he sounded triumphant for some odd reason. "So do we have an agreement?"

"I see no reason why not. What is this deal you propose Mr.…."

"Just call me Trent. And all I want is all the information you have on the Drakan Killers you created and the condition of the last one you sent out."

Anderson did not see that one coming. He was suspecting some sort of immunity when the rebels eventually lost. Or at least asking for the job with his company. "And if… if I give you this information what do I receive?"

"I can tell you where your lost Killer is."


	38. Chapter 38

Episode 38

Jack sat there waiting patiently for him to show up. Silently going over the clues he saw in his head and kept hoping he saw all of it wrong. The guy could be jerk at times but he seemed like a decent enough person, just a little rigid in how he thought things should be. Jack looked at his plant as he heard footsteps coming his way. Glancing over in that direction he saw it was him, "Hey Frank."

He jumped slightly, "What are you doing? You trying to give me a heart attack or something?"

"I thought you would've smelled me before you saw me."

"My sense of smell isn't that good," he informed him. "Now what are you doing in my garden?"

"How did you get the money for those new tools again?"

Looking annoyed he started, "I told you I ran into…"

"You ran into a guy who owed you money. Right," Jack said as he got up. "Did you hear about what happened to Emily?"

"What is this twenty question?", Frank demanded

"I just had a unique experience, that's all. It's weird you know," Jack said as he started walking around a bit, "I haven't thought or seen things this clearly in a while now. It's been what, seven eight months since it happened? From what I understand word spread like wildfire down here that I went a little crazy. Of course I can't say I as all that sane to begin with," he chuckled a bit. "Now that I'm more or less back to normal you think I'd be relieved. But as strange as this might sound I got used to the ghost being around so now I'm feeling kinda lonely. Hell in one of my more inbetween moments I actually nicknamed one of them Chuck."

"Is this going somewhere?", Frank asked sounding even more irritated.

"I'm getting there so hold your horses. Did you know Emily told me everybody was talking about my ghosts? Particularly down here so I know the entire place knew about them. So you could imagine that I was a more than a little surprised when one of Anderson's men seemed to know about them too."

"Obviously somebody told them," Frank said

"Obviously," Jack agreed, "but who?"

"I wouldn't past Jason to sell you out."

Jack smiled sadly, "You know normally he'd be the first one on my list too, but something else happened. About a month or so again, right before I discovered those flowers over there you stormed right past me. I don't know if you saw me but I heard you. You were saying you had half a mind to take them up on that offer." Frank paled slightly as he stepped a little closer to him, "Just out of curiosity, who are they and what was the offer?"

"That's a private matter and none of your business," he tried to put warning tone in his voice.

"Oh I think it is," Jack said getting into his face. "I hear you talking about taking an offer. The next thing I know you have money and the World Inc. goon squad knows about my ghosts."

"It's not what you think," Frank pleaded.

"I think it's exactly what I think it is," Jack said making him back up. "So why did you do it Frank?"

"I didn't…" he started to protest. Then he broke down, "Anderson wanted to know what happened to you. He was curious about what happened during that night, that's all. I swear it is."

Jack really wanted to punch him right now, disgusted he walked away. "Well Frank I have some good news and some bad news for you. Good news is I asked around and you don't turn into a mole. So I won't have to beat you silly for being that obvious. Bad news… Sparky's right behind you."

"Wha…?", was all he got out before he jolted slightly and some of the others came out of hiding to drag him away.

Looking at Sparky Jack went, "Please tell me you didn't enjoy that."

Fingering some of his hair that was still shorter than the rest he said, "He cut off one of my dreads man."

"And I thought I had issues," he said walking away.

"Hey Jack," Sparky said after him. "You named one of your ghosts Chuck?"

Shrugging his shoulders he answered, "He looked like a Chuck."

***

Melissa didn't try to hide her disappointment as Frank sat in front of her. Of all the people who crossed her mind he wasn't even near the top of the list. "Why did you do it Frank?"

"I already explained why I did it," he answered softly.

"How much money did they offer you?"

"Nobody talked to me personally. He sent word that he was willing to pay for information on what happened to Davidson. What we were using was going down the crapper. I was trying to help us out. It wasn't hurting anything if Anderson knew what was wrong with him."

"You betrayed Jack," she told him.

"Do you think I was the only one who thought about it? I've heard people talk about what they would do with that money."

"I'm sure some where, but it still doesn't change the fact you took Anderson up on it," Melissa said sharply. Frank went very quiet. "Exactly how much did they offer you for information on Emily's route?"

"What?", he went bug eyed. "I'd never betray us like that. I did everything I could to make sure none of Anderson's men could follow me here. I got lost a couple of times I was trying so hard. So why would I tell them where to find Emily. I didn't even know where she was going until after they left. So when was I going to have a chance to tell anybody anything?" Melissa wanted to call him on a lie, any lie, but she knew he was telling the truth.

Sighing heavily she said, "Unfortunately I still don't think I can trust you at the moment. But I don't know what to do with you either. So until I do I'm relieving you of all your responsibilities. And don't be too surprised if the people down here start acting differently around you. Like Emily keeps telling me news like this spreads rather fast."

"I was just trying to help us out," Frank repeated weakly as she left the room.

In the hallway she found Rachel standing there and Jack leaning against the wall. "He wasn't the one who told Anderson about Emily."

"Then we still got a leak somewhere," Rachel said. "Even Emily said they were ambushed. There just no way Anderson's assault team just ran across them."

"Everybody starting to look at each other too," Jack added.

"I know," Melissa said pinching the bridge of her nose, "and until I have something concrete to show them they're going to keep doing it."

"I don't suppose Emily has an idea who did it?", Jack asked. "With her second sight and all that."

"When did you start believing in that?", Rachel asked him. Then she said, "Even if she did 'see' it why did she go out if she knew there would be trouble?"

"She knew Anderson was coming to put one of those tracking bug in her head," Jack informed her.

"Emily a big believer in changing the future as little as possible," Melissa said anticipating Rachel next question. "Besides I already talked to her about it. She told me she had a bad feeling about the trip but nothing more."

"Maybe we should parade some of the more suspicious ones in front of her and see if she picks up anything," Jack offered. Melissa and Rachel both looked at him. "I'm just saying… it's an option."

"So what are you going to do about Frank?", Rachel asked gesturing toward the room he was in.

"I honestly have no idea," she replied looking at the door. "I can't send him out in case he decides to spill our location out of spite. And I can't send him to another sell in case he tells them about him," she pointed at Jack. "I have to think about this one."

"Either way me, Arron and some of the others are going to look for the old tools," Rachel said. "I don't feel right in using the new one now. I'll see you guys later."

"See you in a bit," Jack said as she left. Melissa watched him watch Rachel go for a few seconds before returning his attention her. A second later she noticed Rachel glance back at Jack.

She just had to ask. "When you said you had an idea who did it, did Rachel ever cross your mind?"

"Why would I have considered Rachel?", he asked a little bewildered.

"Well you do look at her funny, usually when I mention that Anderson has another Fusion operative in the works."

"Ok," he admitted, "I have mainly because she kept some things from me. Like how I have one of those bugs in my head too. And we worked past that. But sell me out like that, there's no way she would do it." Jack got real quiet and raised an eyebrow at her, "You didn't think…?"

"Of course not," she assured him. "I was just curious, that's all." Jack kept looking at her funny as he turned to leave. Melissa smirked to herself, there was some hope for those two yet. She turned to leave herself when she remembered something else she wanted to ask him. "You named one of your ghosts?"

***

"I do not like this," Perez said as he stood slightly behind Anderson as he waited behind his desk. In a rare occurrence he found himself agreeing with the human. This could very well blow up in his face before he knew it. Particularly if their incoming guest decided to divulge his secret to those under him. Anderson was sure none of the human would believe it. But there would be those who would start to ask questions, which would lead to even more questions. That headache he didn't need. A light on his desk blinked on and his secretary announced he had arrived.

"Send him in." Not even a second later a extremely well dressed rebel walked in confidently and took the seat in front of the desk without it being offered. Years of practice allowed him to hide the disbelief of the sheer gall the rebel had. "Can I get you anything Mr….?"

"Trent," he said nonchalantly as he looked around the room. Then his gaze fell upon Perez, "Although I was expecting a bigger welcoming committee. Just one guard? I'm practically insulted."

"Mr. Perez is the head of my assault unit. I assure you he's more than capable of handling the situation."

"I'm sure he is," this Trent gave him a knowing grin. "Do you have what I asked for?" Without a word he opened a drawer, took out a rather sizable file and slid it across the desk. Trent looked it over, grunting something every so often. Suddenly he started clicking his tongue, "You're holding out on me."

"I gave you all you requested," Anderson said plainly.

"Then where's the information on the mark two you're cooking up?" Once again he found himself being surprised by the man, and again years of experience kept that from showing. If this man wasn't a rebel he would have made every offer possible to get him in his in his company.

"What mark two?"

"Don't be coy with me Anderson. My cell has tabs all over the place. I know you have a new Killer in the works, just like I know your Mr. Perez is not the original head of your shock troopers." Trent leaned back and looked confident. "Now about that mark two…"

Anderson leaned foreword slightly, "You said you wanted all the information on the ones we had created, past tense. If we were working on this mark two like you claim then it would be in the creation phase. Therefore we have complied with your wishes."

He sat there simmering before he regained his composure and started smiling, "You are a sly cat, I will give you that. Fair enough, you've kept your end of the bargain so I will keep mine." Reaching into his coat he pulled out and placed an envelope on the desk. "The location of your lost Killer and, as an added bonus, the so-called leader of this rebellion. I would mention where the entrances and exits are but you never requested that." The look on Trent's face made it apparent that he thought he just even the score. "Pleasure doing business with you."

"I wish I could say the same," Anderson said after he left. Waiting a few minutes he looked at Perez who nodded. He turned away and started speaking into the microphone hidden in his vest. Anderson opened the envelope and studied the contents, a plan already forming in his head.

***

"I am not hearing things," Jack stated to Arron. They were in the garage looking over his bike's engine. At the moment they were in a heated discussion about it's current condition.

"You are hearing things," the youth shot back.

"And last night was the first time I heard this ping. So you weren't taking as good of care of my bike like everybody said you were."

"You are crazy."

"Hey," Jack pointed a wrench at him, "I know crazy and this ain't it." Jack looked up and saw one of the locals coming his way. The confused look on his face told him exactly what he was going to ask. "He looked like a Chuck," he snapped. Turning back to the engine he muttered, "I knew I should have kept that to myself."

"You probably listen to the part of your head that said you heard a ping from this high tech hunk of junk."

Jack patted the side of the bike, "Don't listen to him baby, he's just an obnoxious teenager."

"Does Rachel know you're cheating on her?", Arron asked. "Or are you cheating on the bike with Rachel?" Not saying a word or looking up Jack smacked him on the back of the head, "Hey!"

"Chuck did it," was all he said. When he did look up he saw Melissa walk through the doors with a very stressed look on her face. "And I know that can't be good."

"Everybody stop what you're doing," she said loud enough that everybody in the garage heard her. Tensions felt like it grew when everyone saw her. "Anderson knows where we are." There was a lot of gasps, cursing and the beginning of some panicky chatter from that announcement, but she didn't let it go that far."Trent, the man who took over for Drake after he died, was the one who informed him. Most of his cell called us the moment they found out and Dr. Freidman told us almost as soon as he saw him in the building. So we have to pack up and evacuate now."

"How long until they get here?", Arron asked.

"I don't know," she said softly. Finding her voice again she told them, "So I want every vehicle we have packed with the essentials and ready to go as soon as possible. Those who aren't with Trent are going to help us, Lance and his cell are hurrying over to help out as well."

"Where are we going to go?", Jack asked. "There a lot of people down here."

"We have some unused safe houses close by and Lance said he'd take in some of us for the time being. But we do have a 'B' site to go to. Every cell has a back up habitat for cases like this, known to just the cell leader and a few select others. Which brings me to the other reason why I'm here. I need some people willing to fight in case Anderson men get here before we're ready. Jason and Sparky are heading this up so if anybody wants to volunteer step foreword now."

Everybody looked around to see who would be dumb enough to take what would be a potential suicide mission if it came down to it. Then everybody looked right at Jack as he took a step toward her, "I'm in."

"Jack you don't…," she stated to say.

"Yes I do," he said flatly. A couple of more took his lead. Then Arron stood beside him. Glancing over to the kid, Jack looked at Melissa and slowly shook his head.

She nodded in agreement, "Sorry Arron I need you for something else. For those of you who volunteered, thank you and I pray to God that we don't need you."

"What the hell was that Jack," Arron demanded. "I can make my own decisions you know. And you're going to need all the help you can get."

"Would you shut up for a second Fido," Jack cut him off. "I need you to promise me you'll make sure Rachel gets out of here."

"But Jack…"

"Promise me," he repeated a little more forcibly.

Arron looked him in the eyes then started nodding his head, "Sure thing man, you can count on me."

"Good," he said. Reaching into his pocket he handed Arron the keys to his bike. "Throw her on the bike if you have too, just get her out of here. And if there's another pinging sound when I take the bike back I'm kicking your butt." Jack rushed off to throw his stuff in his bag before he did anything else. He was getting a little ticked that he forced to leave what was basically home again.

***

Hectic didn't even begin to describe habitat at the moment. Everybody was running just about everywhere. Only a few were actually stepping up and trying to control the chaos. And Rachel was finding herself in her element. "Get those kids to the garage now!" she shouted at an adult watching over a group of the younger ones. "The first couple vans are leaving in a few minutes." Turning in another direction she mumbled, "What part of children out of here first is that hard to understand."

"Rachel where do the medical supplies go again?", somebody asked.

"Second exit on the east side. Dusty has Bessie and a trailer already parked there to take them."

"How are things going?", Melissa asked avoiding getting run over by a couple of people.

"Ask me after we get to the new place," she responded. "I said east exit, that way!"

"Is everybody just taking the essentials?"

"I don't think I could call them on it if they did," Rachel admitted. She kept looking down a particular hallway. She was dumb for even considering it under the circumstances.

Melissa looked down that hallway and realized where it headed and what was on the other end. "I'm sure Emily can be convinced to take it with her. Go, I got this covered. But you got five minutes." Rachel took a second to make up her mind and ran town the corridor.

***

Anderson took a deep breath of the night air. He really should make the time to leave the city limits more often, it was so invigorating. Stepping away from his limo he watched as a black unmarked van pulled up. The side door open and rather disheveled Trent was unceremoniously dumped to the ground. Perez and his team quickly exited the vehicle and surround the two of them as he calmly walked toward the bleeding rebel. "I do hope you appreciate choice of a meeting place Mr.", he smirked as he sarcastically said, "sorry Trent. This is the same area you told us that would be the perfect spot to ambush the old woman."

"You son of a bitch we had a deal!", he spat. "I gave you Melissa and Davidson on silver platter."

"And I fully intend on following up on that lead. In fact someone I trust completely is heading there right now to look thing over. But after discussing the matter with Mr. Perez we felt it was be best if the men went after a smaller more insignificant target first. How did you put it Mr. Perez, a 'warm up exercise' I believe. So I must thank you personally for leading our scouts to such a target." Trent started to get up but Perez and his men aimed their rifle at him.

"So why did you have your dogs drag me out here?!", he demanded.

"Because I felt a very strange urge to explain exactly why I did this, believe it or not." Anderson walked foreword and spoke low enough that only the two of them could hear. "I wanted to tell you personally. My late cousin and myself had very, very few things in common. However the one thing we did see eye to eye on is that we detest traitors. And you Trent are a traitor to a group of traitors. So you are worthless in my eyes." Anderson turned away and left the rebel seething on the ground.

"You green son of ….!", he began to shout as Anderson tightened his coat.

"Fire!", Perez ordered. Gunfire dominated the night momentarily before fading away. Perez caught up with him a few moments after the smell of Drakan blood did, "He started to change sir."

"You had no choice," he finished for him. "I understand it perfectly."

"What did you say to him?"

"I told him the truth. That our contacts demanded on bringing him to them. I thought we at least owed to tell him what he could expect from them since he helped us find the rebel's main camp. Apparently he felt it would be easier to take his wraith out on me rather than them. Although I am sure our contacts will eventually be grateful that we took this potential problem off their hands. The wording will be rather important when I tell them of course. But in case they don't, allow me to say thank you to you and your men Mr. Perez for protecting my person during this particular lapse of judgment." Perez looked proud as he saluted and Anderson entered his limo. Anderson smiled to himself as the door closed, that went exactly like he planned it.

***

"So how much longer to we have to wait?", Sparky asked. Him, Jack, Jason and about four others waited in the common area while some more were in the garage guarding things in case the assault came in from that direction. Lance even decided to join in and help them hold the fort while the rest headed for this "B" site. Of course Melissa decided over everybody objection to stay until the last of them left, so they had something else to worry about. At the moment Jack had an extra thought racing through his head, this champion thing sucks.

"Last couple of loads," Lance answered him, "should be heading out in the next few minutes. That last van leaves as soon as we're on it."

"Maybe the bug should leave now," Jason said. "I don't even know why he's even here."

Jack spoke before anybody could stop him, "Because this is my home too and unlike some people I could mention I actually have friends here I want to protect. Besides I said we finish it after we took down Anderson. And I can't kill you if somebody beats me to it."

"I like to see you try bug," Jason challenged him.

"I had you dead to rights twice chimp," Jack shot back.

"Save it for the shock troops," Lance said as he pulled Jack away. "We don't need to be doing their work for them right now."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and they won't show up," Sparky offered. A second later him and a couple of others started sniffing the air and tensed up.

"You just had to say it," Jack told him as he looked around to see where they might be coming from. Then they heard the footsteps echoing in the air. Jack looked down one of the hallways and saw a lone female figure walking toward them. Wearing a tight bodysuit, her dark hair in a bun and a device on her right wrist she came closer, walking like she owned the place.

Sounding nervous Sparky asked, "We're in trouble aren't we?"

"It's a lone World Inc. operative," Jack said feeling his left arm twitch, "we're in it deep."

"Oh my," she said stopping and looking each of them over. "Looks like we have some naughty little boys. I'm going to have to do something like that and teach you a lesson." She grinned as her eyes became more bug like and some transparent wings grew from her back as she turned into a green wasp. Raising her right wrist up to her chest a metal blade popped up, "And I do love making naughty boys scream."

Sparky changed into a blue eel, Lance a red wolverine, Jason a blue monkey and the other dropped their human disguises. Jack did the arm movement needed to prime the system and shouted, "Henshin!" and the armor formed around him.

"You guys," Lance said pointing some of their own. "Get to the garage and tell those vans to get out of her now and form a secondary line. We'll hold her off for as long as we can."

"A confident boy," the wasp sounded excited. "I love breaking boys like you." They surrounded her as she eyed her blade. "Oh who to start with?". The wasp struck out at Sparky with a kick. Jack and the other went in but the female Drakan was holding her own. It ducked and made Jason hit Lance. Jack grabbed her blade arm and tried to knee her in the stomach. She blocked with her knee, twisted in such a way that her arm was free then jumped up and kicked Jack under the chin. Lance came at her but he was thrown on top of Jack. Sparky tried his luck while the wasp attention was on them. She saw him and swung her blade, Sparky backed away with a long cut on his arm. Right then Jack figured out who they were facing, a warrior queen. Great, just freaking great. Knocking Jason down the wasp licked some of the blood off the blade. "Fear laden blood, always delicious."

"God I hate talkers," Jack mumbled as Lance got off of him. She came at him and he rolled out of the way. Jack tried to sweep her legs out from under her but she jumped up to avoid it. Sparky and Lance tackled her to the ground. Jason came in to punch her but a well place kick stopped that. Head butting Lance in the face freed up her left arm which she used to start striking Sparky repeatedly. Jack grabbed the arm and pulled the wasp to her feet. She forced him away before he could do anything. Then she swung her her low and slashed through the bodysuit and into his left thigh. Jack grabbed it and backed away, "Ugh."

"A special metal," she announced holding the blade up. "One that can cut just about anything, even your precious armor. And I bet you thought you were invincible. "Sniffing the blade and licking it again she looked at him, "There's no fear in this blood. I'm going to enjoy putting it there." Jack refused to back up from her again, then Lance and Jason went at her again catching her by surprise. He joined in as best he could but his leg was bleeding and killing him. The wasp kicked him in the leg forcing him to a knee. Lance and Jason forced her back allowing Sparky to sneak up behind her and grabbed her shoulders to shock her. She jolted slightly from the charge he was generating. The wasp started throwing elbows behind her and threw her head back smashing him in the face. Thrusting the heel of her palm into lance chest knocked him down. Jason was able to hold his own until fast punch to the gut dropped him to his knees as the wind left him. Holding the blade up for a killing strike the wasp said, "This naughty boy learns the hard way first."

"The monkey's mine!", Jack shouted as he ignored the pain and ran at them. Jumping off of Jason he rammed his shoulder into her. Trying to keep the advantage as they got to their feet he started throwing rights and lefts, connecting with most of them. He missed one time too many and the wasp took over. Giving him a taste of his own medicine she grabbed Jack by the back of the head and started throwing knees in his face. Grabbing him by the neck she threw him back Jack fell against one of the post and tried to hold himself up. The meter started flashing and he twisted the pod up.

"Now die for Momma," she said right before she charged him. Jack ducked and the blade impaled itself into the post. She struggled to free her weapon and he cocked a fist back.

"Go boom for Daddy!", he said as he punched her in the gut. The wasp screamed as it flew back and exploded. Jack dropped to the ground with a plop, "I need a drink."

"I think I need a cigarette," Sparky said as he came over and offered to help him up.

Jack looked at it, "Yeah I'm not touching that hand." Getting to his feet Lance and Sparky asked if he was all right and he responded with a nod.

Jason walked up behind him, "That was… mildly impressive bug." Jack whipped around and decked catching all of them by surprise.

"Jack what the hell?", Sparky asked. He deactivated the system. They saw him glare at Jason for a few moments.

"That's for calling her worthless," he told Jason. Jack started to limp away before Lance demanded to check on his wound.

"It looks superficial to me," he announced after a few moments.

"Still hurts like hell," Jack told him.

"We'll check it a little closer in the van. Let's get out of here before any reinforcements decides to show up." Jack leaned on Sparky for support as they headed for the garage.

***

The "B" site was an old subway that one way or another feel off the map. So they should be relatively safe for the time being, well until Anderson decided to intensify the search for them. People were settling in best they could giving the circumstances. The place need a lot of work to make it livable but there was plenty of people willing to do the work necessary. Jack, after he got patched up, more or less disappeared when he arrived. Rachel found him in one of the side tunnels sitting against a wall and looking up. She walked a little closer to see he was looking past a grate and at the stars in the night sky. When he looked at her he stared at the pot of flowers in her hands. "You did not risk your neck to dig those up."

"You worked hard on them and I wanted to save them," she explained. "Besides Emily had the same idea. She had a couple of guys digging them by the time I got there. She said they brought you peace and didn't want to leave them behind. You may not like it but I agreed with her at least."

"You're both idiots." After a few moments of silence he took the pot and set it by his feet, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Sparky told me about the fight, so are you all right?"

"You're like the eightieth person to ask me that," he told her.

"So are you going to tell me what you told those seventy nine others," she stated as she sat beside him, "or are you going to tell me the truth?"

Jack went back to looking at the night sky. Softly he answered, "I don't know."

"Well don't keep it to yourself this time," she told him. "That's what got you in that mess to begin with. You have a lot of people around you ready and willing to help out the best they can when it feels like things are getting to be too much for you. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you." Another moment went by before he added, "Thanks for being there for me when I was in it."

She smiled at him, "You're my friend, where else am I going to be?" He smiled back and returned to the night sky. She rested her head on his shoulders and joined him at watching the stars.


	39. Chapter 39

Episode 39

After insisting very strongly Anderson took a tour of the rebels' hideout. He always knew it was an underground movement, he was just slightly amazed they were actually underground this entire time. Perez, despite his position, still demanded he'd only be in the sections he and his men had actually secured. Not that he had a problem with the request, but the way the human was acting like he was the one in charge annoyed him. Fortunately Taylor was there to keep him in check, so to speak. Perez looked happy there was a buffer but he could care less, he just wanted to see Christopher where, and Melissa apparently, had their people living.

And how they had their followers living. Artificial lights strung all over the place above them. The air seemed stale to him now, he didn't even want to imagine what it must have been like full of their followers. Taylor walked with him as he wondered about. "It says something about my cousins, does it not Mr. Taylor?"

"What does sir?"

"That they were able to convince so many to live under these condition."

"Conditions seem to be better than the initial view would indicate," he said. "Some of the men have seen hallways lined with rooms with beds in them, some look like they would fit a family of four comfortably. One of these corridors leads to a garden of some sort. A room that could be described as a meeting hall or dining area looked like it could fit a hundred with some elbow room. Perez himself spotted a room that looked liked it was where they planned their raids based on the maps left in the room."

Anderson slowly nodded his head as he listened. The rebels were a resourceful bunch after all. Avoiding being captured for so long he shouldn't have been that surprised. But one thing still bothered him, "Why is it nobody knew this a place like this existed?".

"I'm not sure," Taylor admitted. "I had people going over old city plans and blueprints as soon as Trent told us about this place, and they couldn't find a trace of it. I contacted Rhodes and he seemed to recall some of the older Generals back in the day talk about a bomb shelter for the politicians that fell off the radar. I'm assuming this is that shelter."

"Have him go over what he can to see if anything else fell off the radar," Anderson ordered. "There has to be some kind of record of places like this somewhere. I doubt the rebels just stumbled across this location, and they have to be someplace like this now."

"He is sir, and I'm having our people go over the public records as far back as they can find. If they have another location like this one we'll find it."

"I hope so Mr. Taylor. It is a metaphorical black eye on my reputation that the rebels have been able to hide for so long in my city, and I will not tolerate it any longer." They came to a stop at what Perez called the central hub of the hideout. Anderson could just see the rebels in his mind standing around the space, acting like they were in the right. The he set his gaze on the charred remains of the woman he sent here. Slowly he walked toward the remains as Taylor waved off the people guarding them. Standing over them he said, "A pity."

"Did you know her personally sir?".

"Well enough Mr. Taylor," he answered. "I almost made her my personal bodyguard, but her rather unusual quirks made me rethink that position. No, she worked out much better as one of my personal assassins. She never let me down once, and always came back with a smile on her face. She was disappointed I waited so long before sending her after Mr. Davidson actually, one of the few times she ever begged for a particular assignment." Silent for a couple of moments he spoke again, "I want her remains properly taken care of. I will perform the ceremony as soon as we return."

"I'll take care of it sir."

"Good, good. May I have a moment alone?"

"Of course sir," Taylor said and left.

Anderson looked at her remains and lowered his head. Despite the small spark of sadness he was feeling a smile escaped his lips, "Welcome back Mr. Davidson."

***

"Damn it, another dead end," Jack muttered. Rachel tried to remain patient, they had been here a week and he still had no idea where he was going half the time. Of course he was still a little ticked he had to spend a day in the homemade goop, as he put it, to fix that gash in his armor. So this wasn't helping his mood any. "This place is a freaking maze. I thought you said it was this way."

"I told you two lefts and a right," she said. "You went left, right, left."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?", he demanded.

"You learn better this way," she shot back. "Come on follow me."

"I still say they should have handed out maps to this place."

"That's a security risk," Rachel reminded him, "and you know that."

"And I'm tired of getting lost down here."

"So are a lot of people. Melissa's gotten turned around a couple times down here too. We just need to get used to the place."

"If we get used to it," Jack said. "A lot of the stuff they brought in is still packed."

"People are still jumpy from the evacuation. Even I'm looking twice at the nearest entrance or exit every time I hear a strange noise." They came to an intersection and they paused. She didn't remember this being here. Rachel could feel Jack staring at her as she looked down each one. "Well come on, don't just lean against the wall," she said hoping he didn't notice.

No such luck, "You had no clue which way we had to go for a second."

"Shut up," she told him. After a few minutes they found the others in Melissa's new war room. It was a small group, just them, Melissa, Lance and a couple of others standing around. "Sorry we're late."

"I just got here myself," Melissa admitted. "I have to start thinking about putting up some street signs around here or something."

"I second that motion," Jack said as he hoped on top of a crate.

"I might as well third it," Rachel said, knowing she was going to regret it the moment she did.

"I knew you got lost," he grinned.

"Bite me," Rachel told him. Jack stuck his tongue out at her and she did the same.

"Children," Melissa said sternly.

"She started it," Jack said trying to sound innocent.

"Did not," she played along.

"Don't make me separate you two," Melissa looked serious before turning away to hide her smile. Before long she was getting back to business, "I figured I should update you guys on what's going on. The other cells are slowly learning what happened thanks to Lance."

"Certain details left out of course," he added looking at them.

"Of course," Rachel agreed.

"So far it still looks like Jack is still our dirty little secret," Melissa took over.

"What do you mean 'little'?", Jack cut in. Rachel slapped him on the knee.

Melissa continued like he never spoke up, "The survivors from Trent's' cell implied they had no idea why he set us up. So it looks like he was the only one in his cell that knew he's with us. Speaking of Trent, they found his body in the wood shortly afterwards. It looks like he was shot several times."

"Can't say I'm shedding a tear over it," Lance commented

"I can," Jack said. "I wanted a piece of him."

"You and everybody here," Melissa told him. "I'm assuming Anderson took the matter out of our hands. One some other news, I've been asked to inform everybody not to worry about getting a new garden center going." She paused and looked like she was steadying herself, "Sparky said he was going to take charge of it."

The group gave out a collective, "Sparky?", at the news.

"I know, it took me by surprise too."

"He's going a little far to impress Angie, isn't he?", Jack commented.

"Let's give him the benefit of the doubt," Rachel told him. Then she thought it over, "But you're probably right."

"Which brings me to our next order of business, we might have to find a new meat and food stuff supplier."

Lance and the other looked concerned, "Did Anderson find out about them?".

"No," she said. "A human is putting the squeeze on us if you can believe it." Everybody looked at each other. "And he wants to talk to us about 'protection'. I don't know who this Harrison guy is but…"

"Wait," Jack interrupted her, "'Pitbull' Harrison?"

"You know him," Melissa asked. Rachel's interest was piqued too.

"Through my Uncle unfortunately," he told them. "He was a pretty small time wise guy too. Even before I was caught in that avalanche he was a small fish pretending he wasn't in a big pond."

"Well he's apparently grown some since then according to a couple of the other cell leaders. He took over one of our major suppliers a little over a month ago. I have no idea how he found out about us though, we have a couple dummy fronts in place."

"You'd be surprised," Jack said. "I'll go with you to meet with him."

"Are you nuts?", Rachel asked him.

"I had no plans on meeting with him," Melissa informed him. "Even if I was I wouldn't risk you getting caught."

"Do you have another supplier set up?", Jack asked. To Rachel and the others dismay she wasn't saying anything right away. "Look, he owes me a couple of favors. I'm pretty sure I can work something out."

Melissa was actually thinking it over, finally she said, "We'll give it a try, but I still don't think this is a good idea." She broke up the meeting to go get ready. Lance and the other looked at Jack as they exited.

"Do I want to know why a small time mobster owes you favors?", Rachel asked once they were alone.

"Nothing major," Jack answered as he hopped off the crate.

"You're risking everything on 'noting major'? You're crazy."

"Hey, I know crazy and…,"he trailed off, "and this is pretty much it actually." That did not fill her with confidence.

***

The meeting place was just outside Harrison's old neighborhood, the same place he tried to run like a big time operation. Jack thought he was kinda pitiful back then too. With Melissa riding behind him, which was a little weird because he was used to Rachel being back there, he pulled up between a couple of small buildings. Harrison, wearing the same Hawaiian shirt Jack saw him in the last time, sat on the hood of a dark blue Lincoln Continental with a couple of his boys standing on either side. Taking off his helmet Harrison looked surprised, "I don't believe it, little Jackie Davidson."

"Hey Mortimer," Jack shot back using his real name. His guards started snickering until "Pitbull" shot them a look. "Let me handle this," he told Melissa.

"The way you're handling it now making me nervous," she whispered back.

"I got to say Jack," Harrison said as he got off the hood and they walked toward each other, "I'm a little surprised about you. The little punk I knew as a boy becoming the most wanted man I the country, who would have thought it. What would your Uncle say? What would your Mother say?"

"Things happen," he told him plainly. "You wanted to talk to the woman behind me. She's letting me speak for her."

"And why should I let you?". Jack only reply was to look up which caused Harrison to do the same. On the roof to their left Arron was holding the unconscious body of one of Harrisons' men. On their right Sparky had another one by the neck as he waved at them with his free hand. "Looks like we're discussing business then."

"I'm not really here to discuss anything," Jack informed him. "You owe me two favors. I'm calling one of them in."

Harrison tugged at his ear, "My memory may be a little hazy at times but I don't see how I owe you anything."

Jack was all too ready to explain, "Back when I was eight. You were on the run from the cops and begged my Uncle to let him hide out in out in our basement, even made me promise not to tell anybody you were there. The police tracked you down anyway, I lied to them and said I never saw you."

Scratching his chin he said, "I can see how that could be seen as me owing you something, but I don't see two."

"My mom came home right after you left. She heard the police were there and asked what was going on. I looked her right in the eyes and told her the same exact lie."

"And that's definitely two."

"Boss how is that two?", one of his guards asked.

"If you ever met his mother you know he took his life in his own hands there," he started rubbing his chin where Jack vaguely remembered his mom decking him. "So what can I do for you?"

Here's goes nothing, "From what I hear you're putting some pressure on these guy's food source. I want it stopped."

"Done," Harrison said without thinking it over.

"Boss!", his guard cried out.

"A favor is a favor boys, you should always honor them," Harrison told them. "I'll tell you what, I'll even forgot I saw you tonight. That should make us even."

"Fine," Jack agreed, "and I sincerely hope I never see you again." Jack turned around and headed for the bike. He knew it was too easy and knew the other shoe was about to drop any time now.

"You know," here it comes, "I always thought the infamous Drakan Killer would look a little tougher."

Jack froze in his tracks totally caught off guard. Looking at Melissa he saw state of shock too. He mouth the words "Did he say?". She nodded slowly. Turning back around Jack saw an evil grin on Harrison's face.

"One of the benefits of being seen as small time, you can find out things when people don't notice you. Made it easy to find out about these freaks and you, and with a little digging what they did to you. I'm willing to forget all of it, if you do a little something for me. You see I got this Drakan trying to muscle in on my territory. I want you to get rid of him."

"No deal," Melissa told him after she found her voice.

"Gee, it would be a pity if the news about the Drakans got out to the press, with evidence might I add," he smirked.

Jack looked him in the eyes, "Have you ever heard of Matthew Anderson? He's like the main guy around here and he is very protective about it. If you actually did your research then you'd know he has a small army under him. If word about the Drakans get out don't be surprised if he gets a package the next day. One containing info about where you live, who you associate with, where you hang out and anything else I can think of."

"That's a pretty good threat there Jackie," Harrison laughed. "But what would your mother say about it?"

"Leave her out of this."

"I can't Jackie, you see I know where she is. And you really should have saved that second favor."

Jack grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him close, "Leave her alone!".

"You think that favor you called in from Nick covered everything when you moved her?", he taunted. "Relocating people ain't cheap and the money had to come from somewhere. And I was more than happy to chip in. Before you get any ideas Jackie boy, I figured a day like this would come so I have one of my boys watching her. And if you do anything to me…"

"Don't listen to him Jack," Melissa told him, but she sounded nervous to him. He also noticed she wasn't exactly saying he was lying either.

"Can you take that chance Jackie?". The only thing he wanted to do was wipe that look off of his face. But he let go and backed away. "Good boy. Now I'm not a total hard case so I'll give you a day to think it over. And it's a simple choice Jackie boy, the Drakan or your Mother. Meet me back here when you made your choice." He patted Jack on the cheek before heading back for his car. Arron and Sparky jumped down and asked what he was going to do. He couldn't answer, he just stood there shaking.

***

Once again Melissa wished she could turn off that window in her head that let her read the emotions of others. The anger radiating off of Jack was splitting her head open. And the commotion that resulted when they returned wasn't helping it any. She tried to calm things down and get back some order. At least Jack was fuming in the corner and not adding anything to fuel the fire. Still the commotion around her was grating on her last nerve and she snapped at them, "I don't remember putting this up for discussion."

"All I'm saying is after all he's done for us," Sparky continued his argument, "why can't we look the other way this one time?".

"And how many more times after that?", Arron countered. "Do you really think this guy going to stop after this one?"

"You been watching too many movies," Sparky told them. "Besides what does it matter to us? We don't even know the guy Harrison wants Jack to whack."

"And that makes it alright?", Arron demanded. "As far as we know this guy is outside this stupid war. Would you really be ok with Jack killing somebody who was basically an innocent?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," Jack finally spoke. Everybody looked at him.

"And where did that end up getting you?", Rachel asked suddenly. He said nothing as he left the room. Then everybody looked at her. "When Jack started talking about what lead to his… episode, he kept going back to a couple of times he was forced to kill a Drakan that he couldn't say for sure was involved in this. He always talked about the first time he had to, it was a frog who confronted us on the street and challenged him. That was the first time he realized he wasn't feeling as guilty as he thought he should have been, and was worried about what kind of monster that made him."

"At least you agree with me," Arron said. Rachel didn't reply right away, in fact she looked undecided. "Don't go flip flopping on me now."

"I don't want Jack to do this either," she said, "but this is his Mother we're talking about."

"We'll think of something," Melissa said. "But we can't do what Harrison wants." Sparky started to protest, even Rachel began to join him. "We'll think of something," she repeated. "I have a hard enough time sending Jack out on jobs where I know he might be forced to fight a Drakan working for Anderson. I am not going to be ok with anything where an innocent has to die to appease some hood. And I know nobody here wants to send Jack down that road again. We'll think of something." She just wished she knew what it could be so it wouldn't affect Jack's Mom."

***

A pitiful night sleep didn't improve things. The conflicting bits of unwanted advice wasn't helping anything either. Rachel tried to get his mind off of it but she gave up after a couple of hours. He just wanted to avoid people and think. The only he place he could find was the still under construction gym area. The heavy bag was up so he took off his jacket and started pounding away. His mind kept going back to the "innocents" as Arron called them. The frog who wouldn't back away from the fight because tradition demanded it. The hippo who just wanted the glory of being the one who took down the Drakan Killer. Max, who he was forced to fight because of that damn dart. Those three always waved heavily on his mind, and two of them were usually some of the first to show up in his nightmare. Could he really add another one to his conscious?

Holding onto the bag he closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Why was he acting like he even had a choice? Grabbing his jacket he headed for the garage. On the way there Sparky caught up with him, "Where you going man?"

He knew where Sparky stood but he couldn't take the chance and only told him, "Out."

"Want some company?"

"No," he answered.

"I'll make sure your bag is packed when you get back," he said.

"Look," Jack stopped and snapped at him.

"Don't go preaching to the choir," the blue haired Drakan told him. "I know what you gotta do. I understand where Melissa is coming from, but I know deep down she and the others know you don't have a choice in the matter. Do what you gotta do to protect your mom."

"Thanks Sparky," Jack told him gratefully.

"Hey, I'm your boy I got your back," Sparky grinned. Jack nodded and continued on his way. Hopefully Dusty would put up with him after this was over.

***

She really should have asked Jack where this Nick guy was, buy she didn't want to risk him trying to talk her out of it in case it backfired and hurt his Mom. Not that those thought didn't already entered her head, but this was the only option she could think of. Amazingly enough Melissa knew who he was and what he did on the side. Apparently in the past they had to get a few Drakans out of the city when things got too hot for them. She should have been worried about getting further involved in the mob thing, but at the moment she was more worried about being recognized out in the streets despite the red hoodie and sunglasses she was wearing. At least Arron was backing her up for this one. Entering the shop once they found it she saw a guy standing behind the counter with the nametag Nick on his shirt. He looked like she thought he would: tall, lanky and wearing glasses. "Can I help you?", he asked.

"Yes," she said as she took off the sunglasses."I hear you have an outside business moving people."

He recognized her almost instantly, "Sorry but not you, you are way to radioactive to even think about."

"Actually I'm here about somebody you already relocated," she explained, "Helen Davidson."

"Oh no no no no," he said while backing away from them. "Pitbull warned me that somebody might be coming in asking about her. He said he'd break my legs, wait until they healed and break them again if I ever told anybody where she was."

Looks like it was time for the back up plan. "You know," Rachel said calmly, "you could worry about what Pitbull would do to you. But maybe you should be worried about what I'll have my young friend here do to you a little more. Arron," she said and stepped aside. He took a step foreword and started at him. His eyes went wolf-like as he gave out a low threatening growl. The wide eyed expression in his face and the growing wet spot on the front of his pants said she got her point across. Rachel leaned on the counter, smiled and pleasantly said, "Now, about Helen Davidson."

***

"I knew you'd make the right choice Jackie boy," Harrison said as he pulled up. "Now be a good boy and follow us. I'll explain when we get there." He got in his car and drove off and Jack did as he was told. Jack found himself wishing that one of Anderson assault units would show up. It would give him an excuse to ditch these guys. Of course that never happened as the pulled next to a chain link fence of an old junk yard. "Now listen up. Mullen, that's the freaks name, is using this place as a base to take me down. I was able to bribe his guards that were supposed to be here, so you got an easy in. Here's how it's going to go down, my boys will take care of his boys and you take care of him. And if you do a good job maybe I'll give you Mom's new number so you can talk to her." If looks could kill Harrison would have been incinerated on the spot by the one Jack was giving him. Harrison backed up a little, "Remember what'll happen to her if anything happens to me." Jack said nothing as he got off the bike and climbed the fence.

After he got in it didn't take long for Harrison to make his move. Gunfire began to fill the air as he made his way toward the center, if this Mullen didn't already run. If only. Again he didn't get his wish as he found a guy wearing a white suit looking worried. Jack didn't get close before he was noticed, "Who the hell are you?"

"Somebody who really doesn't want to be here but doesn't have any other choice," Jack said as he kept walking. He did the movements necessary to activate the system and said, "Henshin." Mullen started to back away as the armor formed around him.

"The Drakan Killer," he gulped. "Look whatever he's paying you I'll double it, I'll triple it."

"Unfortunately you can't raise what he's offering," Jack said sadly. He ran at him but got batted away when he got close. Mullen sprouted antlers as he turned into a blue moose. Looking around he grabbed a pipe out of a pile of junk and came at Jack with it raised over his head. He got a forearm up to stop a blow directed at his head and kicked him away. The moose went back in swinging forcing him to back away. Grabbing the pipe in mid swing he pulled and threw the Drakan to the ground. He looked at the pipe before dropping it. The Drakan took advantage of that moment to quickly get up and clock him with a left cross. Jack ducked another one and countered with a right of his own. He kicked it behind the knee to force it down and punched it in the head again.

The entire fight he wasn't thinking about what he was doing. He wasn't thinking about what Rachel and the others would were going to say about his decision. Jack was thinking about his Mother. And not her reaction to his choice. No, every possible thing Harrison could do to her was running wild through his head. As much as those thoughts disgusted him he had to let them fuel his actions. It was the only possible way he could do this. The moose started to fight back and didn't let up. It jumped up suddenly and kicked him in the chest and forced him against a hood of an old car. The Drakan ran at him, Jack bent down and flipped the moose over his head and sent it flying. Jack climbed on top of the hood and jumped on top of it. He was forced off and kicked in the head hard.

He didn't have time to loose the star circling around in his vision as another punch came at him. Acting on instinct he blocked several punches before popping up with an uppercut that knocked the moose back. It tried to punch him again, he ducked and the momentum casing the moose to turn around. Thinking quick he grabbed him around the waist and threw him backwards. The moose stumbled to his feet as the meter started flashing. Jack looked at the moose… Mullen… and whispered, "I'm sorry," before twisting the pod down. He squatted down slightly, jumped at the Drakan and extended his right foot. Hitting it in the chest the moose flew back and exploded.

"That a boy Jackie," Harrison said as walked up with his men in tow. "That was pretty impressive. I may use you again if one of these freaks gets a little big for their britches."

"No," Jack told him. "That was it, I'm not doing this for you any more."

"You sure your mom could live with that Jackie boy?", he taunted.

"You really should have waited for me to deactivate the system before making that threat." Jack ran at them catching them off guard. He crashed his shoulder into the nearest guard that knocked him down. Another tried to draw his gun. Jack kicked it out of his hands then slammed a forearm into his chest. A third started firing at him. He slowly walked toward him and grabbed the gun. Ripping it out of his hands he grabbed him by the shirt and not holding anything back he threw him. Then he turned toward Harrison.

"Th..think about it Jack,' he said as he rapidly backed away, "do anything to me…". He didn't get a chance to finish as he ran in and grabbed him by the shirt collar. Forcing him against a pile of junk he lifted him off his feet.

"Now you listen to me," Jack growled. "If I ever find out you, your friend or anybody working for you even looks at my Mother I will make you wish you were him," he gestured with his head toward the still burning remains, "by the time I'm done with you. Do I make myself clear!". Harrison nodded quickly and Jack dropped him. He patted him on the check before turning around and walking away more than ready to leave all of this behind him.

***

Melissa waited outside the garage waiting as it rained heavily. Nobody had seen him for hours and she was afraid she knew where he was. She prayed she was wrong as a lone headlight came toward her. Jack stopped short of her and took off his helmet and they just looked at each other. And she knew, not from any thing she was reading off of him, but from the fresh scent of Drakan blood that was in the air despite the downpour. Melissa seethed as she went up top him and punched him off the bike and to the ground, cursing herself for holding back at the last second. "You son of a bitch!", she screamed. "If you would have waited we could have stopped this."

"I couldn't take that chance," he said as he got to his feet.

"Rachel found you Mom," she informed him. She took no satisfaction as he looked away. "I know people down there and they're getting her out of there now. I told you we would find another way. But you were so desperate to live up to your name you just had…"

"I don't care if I pissed you off or not," he snapped back catching her by surprise, "but I didn't have a choice. When it comes down to my Mom and a Drakan I don't even know my Mom going to win every damn time."

"And what if it comes down to a Drakan you do know next time?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?". They were silent for a long time. Then he walked the bike past her, "I'll go pack."

"Every bone in my body says I should kick you out but I'm not," she said not turning around. "Emily says we still need you. That and Sparky was able to convince most of the other to mutiny if I did." Turning her head slightly she told him, "You are on a very short leash as of right now. Another incident like this and I will throw you out on your ass. Is that clear?".

"Perfectly," he answered as he continued toward the garage.

"Explain something to me," she said finally facing him. "When Emily was trying to calm me down after nobody could find you she told me something. She said sometimes a champion is faced with a decision where there is no right path. So he must take the one he feels he can live with the best. Champion, what did she mean by that?"

"Ask her," was all he said.

"I did, she said to ask you."

Jack stopped and sighed before facing her, "Honestly, I don't know what it means either. I not sure I even believe in it yet. But it's something I'm clinging on to, just for the sake of my own sanity if nothing else." With nothing else to say he headed back for the garage. Melissa waited a moment before following him in. She was still royally pissed at him for making that choice. But she knew it was the only one he could live with, now if it only didn't have to cost some "innocent" Drakan his life in the process.

***

Everybody was giving him a mix reaction in the hours after he got back, some agreeing with him and other not. Mostly they just avoided him. Jack didn't really care either way. His Mom was safe that was all that mattered to him. "You going to rip me a new one too?", he asked Rachel as she walked up.

"I'm sure Melissa hoping I will," she said. "But I know you thought you only had the one option. Besides as I see it I'm partially to blame for this too. Maybe if I told you what I had planned you would have waited and nobody would be arguing with each other right now, or maybe not. Look, I know how much you mom means to you. Melissa won't like it but I know in my heart you made the right choice. Which is why I'm hoping this is a good surprise." She pulled a phone out of her pocket and held it to her ear, "Are you still there? Good," then she handed it to him.

"Hello?", he said a bit unsure.

"Jack!", a very excited and all too familiar voice spoke back.

"Mom!". Tears started to form in his eyes, "Oh God it is so good to hear your voice again."

"Same here baby," she told him. "Now what is going on? Why was I moved again? Rachel explained most of it but I'm still confused."

"That favor didn't go as far as I'd hoped it would," he told her. "But we took care of it so don't worry."

"You didn't do anything stupid did you?"

"Would I do anything stupid? Don't answer that."

"I'll take that as a yes. I do know my boy after all. But are you alright? Rachel kept a little too quiet when I asked about you."

"I… went through some things, but I got through them. Rachel helped me get through it."

"Good, usually you're stubborn enough to try to handle anything major on your own. Unfortunately you take after me there so I can't blame your Uncle Petey, no matter how much I want to."

There was a click over the line before he could speak, "What was that?".

"Rachel warned me about that," she said sadly. "It means our time is just about up for now. Listen Jack I love you."

"I love you too Mom," he was able to get out before the call ended. Those tears started to fall as he handed the phone back.

"I'm going to talk to Dusty about working on that," Rachel said. "That way you can talk to her as long as you want and as often as you want."

Jack caught her by surprise by getting up and hugging her, "Thank you."

"What are friends for?", she said. She left him alone again with his thoughts. Would he have made that choice again? In a heartbeat, no question about it. Would he be able to live with it? That he didn't know yet. But hopefully Rachel, the others and his Mom would help him out of it if he couldn't.


	40. Chapter 40

Episode 40

Things in the new habitat were slowly getting better. After everybody realized what was where things started to feel like normal. The new garden center was coming together nicely under Sparky's care, to the surprise of just about everybody. And once everybody gotten used to the new routine it was like they always lived there. A routine that was broken as people hanging around in the main chamber saw Rachel storm in looking furious. Quickly followed by Jack who was holding the back of his head, "What did I say?"

"You know exactly what you said," she shot back angrily.

"Obviously not if I'm asking what in the hell I said."

She turned around and got in his face. Jabbing a finger in his chest she said, "What exactly is going through that head of yours? After all the things I've done for you. After all the times I've fought for you. How can you even say…?"

"How about you stop poking me in the chest," Jack raised his voice slightly, starting to get annoyed.

"Do not yell at me!", Rachel told him.

"You slapped me in the back of the head for no reason!", he did start yelling now. "If anybody got a right to be yelling right now it's me."

"Oh all the ungrateful," she started. "Why do I even put up with you?"

"Who asked you to put up with me?", he shot back. "I didn't see anybody put a gun to your head."

"You block headed," she started to say. Then she turned around and stormed off again. This time he didn't follow, but he did storm off in different direction. But her voice did catch his ear.

Turning around he shouted, "And if you're going to cuss me out do it in English!" She started to swear louder in French. His hands flew up in frustration, "Gah!"

He passed Sparky and a couple of other sitting at a makeshift table. Sparky look at the others and said, "Lovers spat."

"Shut up Sparky," he snapped at him.

***

Melissa told herself she wasn't going to get in the middle of it. That lasted all of five minutes before she told a couple of people to find Jack and bring him to her. As she waited she made a promise to herself, she wasn't going to jump down his throat and she wasn't going to go on the attack. They were going to sit down and rationally discuss what happened. After all there were two sides of every story and he did deserve to have his side heard. Then Jack arrived and she realized, based off what she was reading, rational probably wasn't in the cards. "Sit, we have to talk." Instead he crossed his arms. "I said sit down."

"When I'm ready," he said a little defiantly. Apparently he was still a little irked from the situation with Rachel.

Feeding off the irritation coming off of him her eyes went feral and she growled a bit as she told him, "I said sit."

Looking at her for a moment or two he said, "I'm ready," and promptly sat down.

This could have gotten off to a better start. Taking a second to calm herself she said, "I know things between us have been a little strained lately. And I don't usually involve myself in the personal quarrels of those who live here."

"Fine, then I don't need to be here," Jack said as he started to get up. She pushed him back down a little harder than necessary, just to get the across the point he wasn't going to leave until she said so.

"But in the past few months," she continued, "Rachel and I have gotten to know each other a little better. So I consider her to be one of my closest friends. And right now my friend in angry and hurting and I want to know why."

Sighing tiredly he said, "If I knew why we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Something had to have happen Jack. Nobody has seen her like this. I heard Dusty found out and is coming in to crack your head open to find out what you did."

"Then it's going to be a long night because I have no idea what I did."

She tried a different track, "Then tell me what was going on before whatever happen happened. Maybe we can figure it out and stop this fight."

Sighing again he titled his head back before looking back at her. "Me, Rachel and Arron were straightening out one of the supply closest, and we were just talking. Out of the blue Arron, who I blame for all of this by the way, asked me if I thought Rachel would ever stab me in the back. I don't know why it came up." Melissa felt her gut tighten a little as she was afraid of what the answer was going to be. "I told him no, I fully expect to see it com…ing…," he trailed off as it dawned on him what he said and dropped his face into his hand, "ah son of a bitch." When he looked up she smacked him in the forehead, "Ow!"

"You didn't hit yourself hit yourself hard enough," she said.

Getting up he said, "I got to find Rachel. That wasn't what it sounded like."

"How can that be anything than what it sounded like?"

"Let me explain it to Rachel first then I'll explain it to you." He quickly turned into the hallway. She heard a, "Excuse me Emily," that was followed by a loud crack and an, "Ow!", before Jack came hopping back into view holding his right shin. "What the hell, is this hit the Fusion guy day?!"

"What did you say to that poor girl?", Emily demanded as she waved her cane at him.

"I'm going to go work it out with her," he quickly said. "If people would stop hitting me before I can find her." He hobbled off as they watched. Melissa was hoping he found her quick because he wasn't going to last long at this rate.

***

Rachel didn't know if she should cry or tear him a new one. After all this time he still didn't trust her. She hugged her knees to her chest as she sat in her bed, trying not to stare at his cot on the other side of the tiny room. Still low on space her ass. She had a half a mind to throw all his stuff out in the hallway. That way he could bunk with somebody he could trust. The doorknob shook a little then there was a knock on the door. "Rachel open up," she heard him say.

She remained quiet in hopes he'd eventually go away. But he kept knocking and calling her name. Getting fed up she called out, "Go away Jack."

"Let me explain," he said, "that wasn't what I meant."

Rachel got up and almost shouted at the door, "So what, you expect me to stab you in the side now?"

"I don't think your going to betray me or anything." Then his voice went a little lower and she heard him say, "Do you mind? I'm trying to have a conversation here."

"Whatever man," a new voice said.

"Rachel," he said talking to her again, "you are my closest friend right now…"

"Yeah right," she cut him off, "some friend. You'd never say that about Richie."

"Yes I did," he said immediately, "hundreds of times. And he said the same thing about me."

Against her better judgment she opened the door. Before she got out of the way and let him in she wanted to make one thing perfectly clear. "The only reason why I'm even listening to you is because I'm curious about what story you made up to make me believe that."

"I know you'll probably won't believe it but it isn't a story." He walked in and she closed the door. He sat on her bed, "Please sit down." Again against her better judgment she sat on the bed too, as far away as she could. He scooted away to give her a little more space before explaining. "All of this goes back to a stupid E-mail Richie got a few years ago. One that supposedly explained the differences between a friend and a real friend. One of them just happened to be 'A friend will stab you in the back, a real friend will look you in the eyes while he stabbing you in the heart'. I don't know how but somehow that became one of our personal mottos."

"It's a stupid motto," she said softly.

"You know what? I agree with you," he told her. "It was the stupidest thing I ever heard and I always hated it. Besides I was pushing for a friend will help you move a real friend will help you move the body." She almost cracked a smile but stopped it. Jack didn't look like he saw it. Looking at her he said, "Look, what I'm trying to say is until today Richie is the only person I said that about. And when I say it I'm saying I trusted him completely. And I was saying I trust you completely Rachel."

"Did you have to word it like that? I was thinking we didn't get past all of that after all. Do you have any idea how much that hurt to hear?"

"I didn't mean to hurt you like that. I was so used to saying it with Richie I didn't think. Rachel I l…," he stopped himself closed his eyes for a second. Part of her briefly worried if he was having a relapse. "I'm sorry and I would never intently hurt you. Sparky's going to be disappointed when he finds out but you are my best friend. Sometimes I think you've been my only friend in this whole mess. You were there when it started and I really want you there if it ever ends."

"I listened to you," Rachel said after a moment. "I don't know if I believe you, but I listened."

"That's all I wanted."

"Can I have some time to myself please?"

"Sure," Jack agreed as he got up, "take as much time as you want. If you want to talk to me I'll be hiding somewhere because just about everybody wants a piece of me now. And apparently Dusty coming in to kick my ass too. The way things have been going somebody will get you a video of it before the day's over. So enjoy."

Alone again Rachel wondered if she could get him to repeat that in front of Melissa. It wouldn't be the most accurate assessment but it'd be something. But then again she was sure Jack wouldn't use Richie like that. So she didn't know what to think. But looking over at his plant she was wondering if it could give her the same peace of mind it apparently gave him.

***

Anderson, in one of the few times in his life, was feeling confused. The rebels had been quiet since they relocated, outside the occasional small outburst here and there. But then there was a Drakan found dead in a junkyard recently. Davidson doing, there was no doubt about it. The big question was why. Normally he'd be in his office overlooking his city pondering the situation. But today he was in a monitoring room looking through a different window. "Any news on the corpse Mr. Taylor?"

"Not a whole lot Mr. Anderson," his VP said. Looking through the report in his hands briefly he shook his head. "As far as we can tell his name was Mullen. He only just arrived in the city a few months ago and tried to keep a low profile since then. Our contacts were able to do some digging though, he saw himself as a gangster of sorts. One of there exacts words were 'he saw one too many mafia movies'. Outside of that there's not much."

"Any idea if he crossed the rebels in some way?", Anderson asked scratching his chin slightly still keeping his attention on the window.

"None that we can find," Taylor admitted. "At most Mullen had a situation with a human named Harrison, who is a gangster himself apparently. A turf war if you will."

"Interesting," he thought out loud. "Find this Harrison, perhaps he knows something about the situation. Have Perez make him talk if need be."

"He… disappeared sir," Taylor said.

For the first time since he entered the room he looked at him, "Excuse me?"

"He disappeared sir," Taylor repeated. Apparently after whatever happened he left town. In a hurry from what I've been able to determine."

"So we have a dead Drakan, from all signs by Davidson hands, and we have a human he was connected to him who left town for whatever reason. So how do Davidson and the rebels figure into this picture?"

"I'm not sure sir. I can keep digging if you want."

"Put a man on it." He quickly changed his mind, "Cancel that. It doesn't matter in the long run. This person wasn't part of my pack and apparently had no desire to make himself known to me. Mark it off as blip in the rebels' usual pattern."

"As you wish sir," Taylor said.

"Besides," he added, "there is an outside possibility I may get the opportunity to ask Davidson about it personally. Depending on the mood he is in when he sees Davidson that is." Returning his attention to the window he looked down at the specialized training area below. He watched a figure dressed in a black body suit with red armor systematically take out the targets around him. The blue lenses on his helmet the only thing keeping Anderson from seeing his eyes. "And depending on what condition Davidson is in if he does."

***

"A friend will stab you in the back, a real friend will look you in the eyes…," Dusty repeated as he thought it over. Jack was right, he was coming over to kick his ass. He better be grateful she was able to intercept Dusty as soon as he arrived. "That sounds like something that would come out of his mouth. You happen to have him run this line of bull past Melissa?"

"He already talked to her," Rachel told him. "According to her he was telling the truth."

"Well I'll be damned," Dusty said as he sat down. "You guys really know how to take the wind out of a old man's sails, you know that little lady. I was all set to knock some sense into that block he calls a head."

"You can still beat him up if you want," she said as she sat next to him.

"Wouldn't be the same little lady," he told her. "It still be fun but it wouldn't be the same." They shared a chuckle. "So where's that boy at anyway?"

"He's hiding round here somewhere," she informed him. "I thought he was joking to be honest with you, but nobody has seen him since he talked to Melissa. I'm sure everybody knows where he is, they're just letting him think he's succeeding."

"He's that afraid of the old man huh?", Dusty laughed. "I don't blame him, I could hold my own back in the day." Rachel had to hide a smile as she heard Jack's response to that almost immediately in her head. "Not that I wouldn't fix him up afterwards. I'm still a doctor after all."

"That's one way to stay in business, busting up your own patients."

"Whatever works darlin'," he laughed again. "So how about you, how are you doing?"

"I don't know yet."

"Well you're the only one who does. Nobody can tell you."

"I now he didn't mean to be hurtful, but…"

"He could have worded it a little better," Dusty finished for her. "We both know he didn't mean anything by it. And sometimes he's not the brightest bulb out there."

"He's smarter than he lets on," she said quickly, She had no idea why she was defending him.

He gave her a smile she was all too familiar with, "If he all that smart why hasn't he hooked up with you by now."

"Could we not go through that again," she told him. "It's bad enough you tried to shove that idea down my throat when we were living with you."

"Is it my fault you and Jack are both hard sells. I swear it's like taking down a brick wall with a hammer. So you gonna let him off the hook?"

"I'm going to follow some advice Emily gave me a while back and let him grovel a bit."

"Good for you darlin'. Maybe that'll teach him to think a little more in the future."

"I doubt it but there's always hope." She gave the old Drakan a hug, "Thanks for listening Dusty."

"Anytime little lady," he said as he hugged back. "Just remember, anytime he giving you any trouble just give me a call, I'll set him straight."

"Actually we have his mom on speed dial now."

Dusty's grin got bigger after remembering some of the stories Jack told him about her, "Even better."

***

Sometime he wondered if his uncle ever felt this nervous every time he picked a lock in the middle of the night. Of course Jack usually had people watching his back while he did it. Then again he was usually on their good side. After his last couple of decisions he was lucky Sparky was still talking to his like he usually does. The locked popped with no problem, "We're in."

"Alright let's go," Sparky said as he waved Arron, Rachel and the others into the factory they were breaking into. This had better be worth it.

"I know I'm not in the best of graces with everybody right now," Jack whispered, "but seeing what happened the last time we did a favor for another cell why are we doing this again?"

"Because Lance's cell heard about this and couldn't spare the man power to check it out," Rachel reminded him. "And if we can't trust Lance who can we trust?"

"Did Lance himself ask us to do this?", he went on. "Or did somebody who said they were with Lance or whatever ask?"

"When did you get so paranoid?", Arron asked. "I've never seen you this jittery."

"Since nobody could tell if we had a C site ready or not," he told them. That and he wasn't sure how he was suppose to be acting in situations like this now. God, this champion crap needed to come with a manual or something.

"A, it was Lance who asked us to check this out," Rachel told him. "And B, even if he didn't Melissa would have double checked. She doesn't want us to move again either."

"Too bad they may have to," a new voice said as the lights above them came on. They found themselves surrounded by a small squad of Anderson's shock troops. A tall, skinny guy in a dark suit with a really noticeable nervous tick was apparently in the lead. "You rebels are either really desperate or really gullible," he said as his head twitched.

Sparky just kind of looked at him, "Is he having a seizure or something?" Jack and Rachel looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. A couple of the troopers laughed.

"I'd asked you to come quietly," he said looking annoyed at the comment and the reaction, "but I know you rebels won't do that. So take them by force," he told the troops, who extended their shock sticks,

"Jack," Sparky started.

"I know the drill," he said as he got his left arm up. "Keep her safe." Doing the activation movements and shouting, "Henshin!", he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. The armor formed around him as he got in front of everybody.

"Be careful," Rachel said in his ear, "if they found a way to turn that metal into bullets you won't be bulletproof any more."

"I'll worry about it if it happens," he told her. "By the way, please tall me none of these guys are a Drakan." None of them were coming foreword to tell him one way or another. "Please tell me it's not twitchy."

"Ok I won't tell you," Sparky said.

"I am going to hurt you," Jack told him. The trooper made there way toward them cautiously while "Twitchy" stood there fuming.

"Nobody makes fun of my twitch," he said a lizard like tongue flicked out of his mouth and he changed into a red chameleon. His head still twitched as he eyes turned wildly.

"You're just cheesing off everybody today," Arron smirked as he went wolf.

"I'm hurting you next," Jack said right before he went toward the chameleon. He punched one of the troopers who was dumb enough to come at him before blocking a punch at his head from the Drakan. He let loose a right cross but the Drakan was as quick as he looked as it got out of the way. Jack was able to jump over a leg sweep but was hit with a punch to the gut as he landed. The chameleon came at him with a series of punches and kicks that kept him off balance. He took an extra step back to avoid a back roundhouse than ran in catching him around the chest, picked him up and ran foreword before slamming him to the floor. Jack picked him up and started to punch him in the gut repeatedly. The Drakan was able to twist out of his grip and quickly kick to the head that rocked Jack back.

The chameleon jumped up, wrapped his legs around his head and flipped backwards sending Jack flying forewords Jack rolled out of the way as a reptile like foot came at his head. Thinking quick he swung his arm out, catching the Drakan just below the knees knocking it down to his back. Jack jumped up and planted his elbow into its' chest. He rammed his knee into his head repeatedly before using a rail next to him to get up. Then he realized this place had a basement and that was a long way down. Kicking the Drakan in the head as it tried to get up he took a quick moment to check on Rachel. She was holding her own using his old staff. In fact she was able to knock a couple of them down. "Who have you been practicing with?", he wondered out loud. The chameleon recovered faster than he figured and caught him off guard with a charge. Both of them hit the railing and fell over.

"Jack!", he heard Rachel scream as they fell.

***

Melissa sat in Emily's room enjoying a quick talk, mainly to calm her nerves as always when she sent people out on a mission. "I mean what would you do in my position? Jack told me he has feelings for her. Rachel told me she has feeling for him. But they haven't told each other yet. I wasn't going to say anything at first because I figured they would have by now."

"So what have you been doing to get them to do that child?", Emily asked as she watered her plant.

"Outside of making them roommates again and trying to convince Rachel she should make the first move, nothing," she said. "But I keep getting these feelings off of them, especially when they're together. And quite frankly it's starting to drive me a little nuts."

Emily laughed as she put down the flower pot, "And to think just a little while ago we were wondering what she saw in him." Then she stopped laughing and froze slightly. Melissa felt a nervousness coming off her and that amped her nerves up a couple of notches.

"Emily what is it?", she asked trying to snap her out of it. "What did you see?"

"Jack," she gasped.

"What happened to Jack?"

"Nothing yet child," she said trying to get herself under control. "But his next challenge is appearing faster than I expected. And I'm not sure if he's ready for it yet."

***

"Oy," Jack grunted as he rolled to his stomach and slowly got up. That fall was longer than it looked. Luckily the armor absorbed most of the impact as he landed. Still hurt like hell though. He looked up to see the chameleon stumble toward him. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." He blocked the foot coming at his head, then jumped foreword and slammed his shoulder into its' gut. The Drakan held on tight as he did everything not to fall backwards. The chameleon stayed tight across his shoulders as Jack got to his feet. "Get off," Jack grunted as he used his arm strength to force the Drakan up and over his head. As it fell in front of him Jack quickly brought his knee up and slammed it into its' head. The chameleon crumpled to the ground. Jack picked him up and tossed him as the meter started flashing. Twisting the pod down he waited for the chameleon to get to its feet. Then he ran in, jumped and kicked it in the chest. The chameleon flew back and exploded.

Jack panted as he deactivated the system and looked around, how was he going to get back up there? For that matter how was everybody else doing? "Rachel!", he shouted at the story above him. "Sparky! Arron! Anybody!" no answer came down. "Hell I'd settle for the chimp right about now. No," he quickly corrected himself, "no I wouldn't. There's got to be a staircase or something around here somewhere."

Then he heard a slow clapping sound and tried to locate it. He found somebody coming toward him in the shadows still clapping his hands. He could tell from where he was he was wearing a World Inc. assault team uniform. "I got to tell you something buddy," the figure said. "I was worried when I found out you were having problems. But it looks like you actually gained a step or two since I last saw you."

He stepped into the light and Jack got a good look at him, but he already recognized the voice, "Mitchell."


	41. Chapter 41

Episode 41

He heard a slow clapping sound and tried to locate it. He found somebody coming toward him in the shadows still clapping his hands. He could tell from where he was he was wearing a World Inc. assault team uniform. "I got to tell you something buddy," the figure said. "I was worried when I found out you were having problems. But it looks like you actually gained a step or two since I last saw you."

He stepped into the light and Jack got a good look at him, but he already recognized the voice, "Mitchell."

"I bet you thought you'd never see me again." Mitchell started jogging in place, looking pleased, "I was wondering it myself after you paralyzed me that day." He stared at Jack for a second, losing some of his mirth, "You did know that right? I mean you had to have heard my back snap when I landed on the edge of that van. Yeah, I thought about that for a long time, I still do actually. But you got to love the Fusion system though right? You barely had any legs at all when we found you. Now look at us, on our feet like nothing happened."

Jack felt a strong urge to back up but he held his ground, "So you guys arranged this little get together for a reunion or something? You could have just sent a postcard."

"Oh no," Mitchell quickly dismissed it. "No the plan was to get one of the other cells. When they raided that Trent guy cell a couple of the prisoners who were willing to talk said your group was pretty close to this other one. That was the one we were targeting tonight. The boys back at World Inc. were certain that the rumors we planted would draw them out. The idea was to try to draw you out by holding you for bait actually." He chuckled a bit, "Imagine my surprise when you showed up instead. So the new plan was to get you away from the others. That idiot knocked you down here instead. I really had to hoof it to find you two."

"So I forced you to think on the fly?", Jack commented. "I'd bet that sprained something."

He chuckled again, "I almost forgot you had a sense of humor. Well you can't blame me with the look you gave me last time. That entire day was burned in my brain. I can't tell you how many times I relived it. Hell I probably dreamed about it while I was in that tube being turned into a thing like you. Well not like you exactly," he corrected himself. "For one I still have all my original parts," he sneered. "And two I was bonded to the Mark two system."

"Let me guess," Jack cut him off, "You're just dying to show me the difference between the two."

Mitchell grinned, "Since you insist."

Jack quickly got his left arm up to materialize the belt. Swinging his arm to the side he raised his right to his left. Shouting, "Henshin!", he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. It scanned him and he was back in the Fusion armor.

Mitchell raised his left arm, bent at the elbow and his hand balled up in a fist. A familiar looking belt appeared round his waist, except the faceplate was blue. Glaring at him he clenched his fist tighter as he said, "Transform!" He moved his arm to the side and in one motion he swung his right arm up and over before slamming his right hand on top of the belt. Jack watched as he was covered in a black body suit and red armor formed around. He stared into the blue lenses of Mitchells' helmet. Based on the look Jack guess he was based on a dragonfly too.

Jack snorted as he said, "Transform? Oh that's real original."

Mitchell cracked his neck, "At least my word sounds American. I mean hen…shin, what in the hell does that mean any way?"

"Transform you moron." Jack ran at him and tried to catch him with a flying knee. He missed as Mitchell sidestepped out of the way. He turned toward him quickly as he landed and ducked a punch he barely had any time to react to. He scored a couple punched to Mitchells' chest and gut but he quickly backed away before any more made any contact. Jack went after him throwing punches and kicks, but Mitchell was able to block or dodge them easily. Jack almost thought he heard him snicker at one point. He went for a haymaker of a right cross that the other man got under and countered with an uppercut that knocked Jack off his feet.

As he tried to get back up Mitchell stood there and actually dusted his hands off. That got on his nerves fast. "Same old Jack," he said. "Always thinking pound on them until they give. Always looking for that one big hit." Disdain entered his voice as he added, "Always relying on luck instead of some skill."

"Sometimes it better to be lucky than good," Jack said before kicking his foot out at the other man shin. Mitchell stepped back top avoid it and that gave him enough room to get back up. He went for another punch but Mitchell caught him by the wrist and twisted hard. The pain made him drop to a knee and grab at his shoulder as Mitchell continued to apply the pressure, "Ugh,' he grunted.

"That's definitely true in your case 'buddy'," Mitchell told him. "From what I hear you took out that blind hit man Logan and Kathy. Granted she had her quirks, hell some of the boys called her a psycho dominatrix, but she was one of Andersons' top assassins. But if you fought them like you're fighting me right now I'd say luck played a huge part in it." Jack rolled foreword with the pressure on his arm. As soon as he landed on his back he kicked Mitchell in the head. Shaking his arm slightly as he got up he turned around and kicked him in the gut. He swung a knee in fast and caught Mitchell flush in the face as it forced him back up. Jack finally connected with a punch to the head. God that felt better than it should have. He went for another one but Mitchell caught his fist with his hand. Jacks' arm was shaking with the effort but it wasn't going foreword, in fact Mitchell slowly started to push it back.

"There's a reason why it's called the Mark two buddy boy," Mitchell informed him. "They realized all the mistakes they made with you and corrected them. And not only am I stronger than you I'm pretty sure I'm faster too." He let go of the fist and punched him. Jack was just able to block the next couple of punches and a kick aimed at his head. Then his head snapped back from a straight right. Then several more strikes he couldn't see coming rocked him. Finally a right cross spun Jack to the ground.

Through the stars he saw the meter start to flash. Mitchells' must have start doing the same because he heard the pod on his belt click. Jack watched him out of the corner of his eye. A punch or kick was coming, it was just a question of which one. Mitchell raised his foot up for a stomp. Jack quickly rolled foreword as the foot came down hit hard on the floor. As that part of the floor exploded form the charge he twisted his pod up as he got to his feet. As Mitchell turned to face him Jack put everything he had into the punch and nailed him in the chest. "Gotcha," he grunted as he fell to a knee and Mitchell stumbled back. He lowered his head not rally wanting to see this. Then he heard the turbines in Mitchell belt start to hit hard. An electrical charge ran down his chest armor and into his belt. Jack looked on stunned, "What the hell?"

Mitchell acted as surprised as he was as he patted himself down, "Heh, I didn't think that was actually going to work when they told me about it." Then he looked right at him, "Too bad for you." He pulled Jack to his feet and started unleashing on him before he could react. Holding him against a metal wall Mitchell told him, "Thanks for the recharge by the way." He twisted the pod up and threw the punch. Jack got out of his grasp and all he got was wall. But Mitchell grabbed him and pulled him back as soon as the wall exploded. A chunk of wall smashed into his head and he fell to the floor dazed. Jack was vaguely aware of Mitchell standing there and deactivating his system. Reaching into a pocket on his vest he pulled out a small flat oval shape device that he slapped onto Jacks' chest and stepped back.

"ARGH!", Jack screamed in pain as it felt like a huge electric charge ran through him. As his body arched from the pain as his armor slowly started to disappear. He laid there breathing heavy and clutching his chest as Mitchell hovered over him.

"That looked like it hurt," Mitchell commented. "Like a real kick in the nuts. Actually…," he trailed off as he kicked him low. Jack sat up and held himself as a new pain ran through him. "I'm surprised you still had any," he said while kicking him back down. Standing over him Mitchell looked thoughtful, "This look familiar doesn't it? What was it you said the last time I saw you? I remember now, you asked me what the biggest difference between you and me was. You said you didn't enjoy this. Which kind of implied I did. And you know what?" A sick grin grew and he knelt on top of him, reached into the hood and pulled his head up by the hair, "You're right."He started punching him in the face again, again and again.

Jack lost track at how many times he was hit and was about to lose consciousness when he heard Sparky shout out, "Jack!" Mitchell let go and looked to his left, then he heard what sounded like those shock sticks being activated.

"We'll finish this later buddy boy," Mitchell said as he got off of him and ran. Jack thought he heard multiple footsteps go after him. Rachel knelt down beside him with a horrified look on her face.

"Oh my God," was all he heard before he finally passed out.

***

Where is he?", Dusty said as he jumped out of Bessie looking worried when he arrived at the habitat. He must have pushed that old truck to its limits to get here so fast

"They should be here any second now," Melissa told him. Beside her Lance was kicking himself with guilt. "Lance you didn't know this was going to happen," she tried to comfort him. "Emily didn't even get a notion until they were in the middle of it."

"I still sent you guys there," was his only response.

"Two coming in!", the guard at the door announced. Just like she feared Arron came in riding Jack's bike. She ran for the van behind him with Lance and Dusty in tow. The door opened up and she felt a wave of relief to seeing Jack sitting up right. His face was battered and bloody. Rachel and Sparky were at his side trying to clean the blood off of him.

"No offence son," Dusty spoke up, "but you look like hell."

"You should see the other guys' fist," Jack smiled weakly, "I totally messed it up." Dusty looked away but she was feeling his relief that he was trying to joke about it. It meant he wasn't hurt that bad. "Just get me a couple of bottles of aspirins, I'll be fine."

"I'll be the judge of that son," Dusty told him. "Sparky help me get him out of here."

Jack actually tried to pull away from them, "I can do it."

"Son, either you let us help you out of this thing or I'm gonna jab a needle into you and knock ya out," Dusty threatened him.

"Whatever," he grunted and they eased him out of the van. "But I'm walking on my own."

"You're definitely as stubborn as ever," Dusty told him as he under one of his arms while Sparky did the same on the other side. "Besides we're not going that far, just to Bessie and my medical bag."

"Mitchell just hit me in the head," Jack protested, "nothing important got hurt."

"Mitchell," Melissa repeated, "I know that name but I can't place it." She looked to Rachel for some help. That's when she noticed she was sitting in the opening of the van, looking at his blood on her hands and shaking. How did she miss reading that when she was that close? Melissa immediately sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders.

"How much more crap is he suppose to take?", she asked to nobody in particular.

"I wish I knew," Melissa answered her. Hopefully Emily knew something but she didn't say that out loud. "We've seen Jack bounce back from way worse," she assured her. "Besides he's too stubborn to let this stop him for long."

"We just got him fixed mentally," she said. "Now he comes back and tried to bust Jack up," she wiped the tears on her face with the clean part of her hand. Closing her eye to compose herself a bit she started talking, "Mitchell was the one in charge of Anderson assault troops while we were there." That's why the name sounded familiar but she kept quiet. "The last time we saw him Jack tossed him on top of one of their vans. The way Jack explained it that messed him up enough for them to bond him to a new version of the Fusion system." Standing up she reached into a pocket and handed Melissa an oval shaped device. "I found this by Jack. He said Mitchell used it to deactivate the systems." She glanced over to Lance, "Your cell is good at the tech stuff right?", there was a slight edge to her voice when she said the word cell. Before either of them could respond she walked past hem and over to where Jack was.

Lance took the device and studied it, "I remember them telling us about a device Anderson had that could stop the armor from forming. Looks like they took it a step further." Melissa didn't have to read any of his emotions this time around. She knew that look all too well.

"Just give her time to start thinking straight," she told him. "Emotions are running a little high right now. Trust me I know better than anybody," she smiled in hopes he would too.

"Nice try kid," he said instead. "But I know they're right in being angry with me right now." He walked away and left her wondering if she had any chance in fixing this any time soon.

***

Rachel watched silently as Dusty finished up stitching one of the bigger gashed on Jack forehead over his eye. As he taped a bandage over it to join the others he placed previously Dusty commented, "I'll check on that in a couple of days to see how it's healing. Hopefully that won't scar up on you."

"Like one more going to make that much of a difference," Jack said. Touching the bandage a bit he joked, "At least with this one I can tell people I tried to be like Evel Kinevel." Something must have shown on her face because he looked at her and went, "Sorry."

"Don't be," she said immediately. "I'm just happy you're all right."

"This boys head is harder than granite," Dusty grinned. "It's going to take more than a few hits to crack his thing open."

"It's not like he didn't try." Again he looked at her and said, "Sorry."

Lance came up to them. Looking uncomfortable he said, "Jack I wanted to…"

"I don't think now's a good time," Rachel quickly said.

"The boy needs his rest," Dusty said at the same time.

"Guys, it's alright," Jack told them. Slowing standing up he looked at Lance. "There's no need to apologize. Their plan was to use get your guys and use them as bait for me. Chances are this was going to happen anyway, we just cut out the middle man." Seeing the device in Lances hand he said, "I see Rachel gave you my little memento. You probably want to know how that worked. Melissa probably needs to know too so I'll tell you both at the same time. Just make sure I don't fall down on the way there." Jack went off toward Melissa with Lance right behind looking slightly confused.

Rachel and Dusty watched them leave. Dusty looked at her and went, "Was I the only one expecting that boy to rip into him?"

"You're not the only one," she remembered how he was acting when they got the job. "I guess it's a good thing he can still surprise us at times." He nodded in response. "Are you going to be staying long?"

"At least 'till morning," he answered. "Jack's got no outward signs of a concussion but I just want to make sure. Besides," he smiled, "it looks like you could use somebody to talk to right about now."

Feeling grateful she said, "Thanks Dusty."

***

Anderson got out of his chair immediately as Mitchell and Perez walked into the office. "Mitchell," he said as he walked over and took his hand, "if I haven't said it already it is good to have you back." Remembering Perez was in the room he added, "Not to knock your performance Mr. Perez."

"Even I knew I had some big boots to fill when I took the job," Perez said.

"I just wish I was able to bring Jack in to make this particular celebration complete," Mitchell said.

"No offence Mitchell," Perez told him, "but Davidson been proven to be a real pain in the ass since you've been laid up."

"Yes," Anderson agreed, "Mr. Davidson has proven to be a worthy challenge to the men."

"I think you mean lucky," Mitchell commented with a smirk. He was still on this particular kick apparently.

"Well if you two will excuse me I'm going to see if I can train the men to be that 'lucky'," Perez said before he left the room."

"I'll be down there too in a bit," Mitchell said before the door closed. "I have to head down to R&D first. I owe Armstrong and his team an apology for doubting them about that little surprise for Jack."

When they were alone Anderson said, "I'm surprised you haven't taken back total control of them men yet."

"I was out of the loop longer than anybody anticipated," Mitchell explained. "Perez made the unit his own in that time. He's a good man and I don't want to step on his toes. Besides you were always telling me the Fusion system was designed to be a solo act when Jack was here."

"Quite right," Anderson said as he sat back in his chair. "Did Perez tell you that he and the men discovered we have Drakan in the troops?"

"I told him I was aware of it," he said. "I also told him I kept quiet about it because I didn't want to prejudice the men and affect the unit. He accepted that answer."

"Good," he nodded. "It was a tense couple of days after that bit of information got out. As mad as he was at the time I was surprised Perez was able to calm the situation." Anderson picked up a particular file off the desk and looked at him, "Now about your proposal."

"I hurt Jack pretty good," was his only explanation. "If he's anything like I remember he's going to be itching for a shot at some payback."

"A person can change in the time you were out."

"I looked him in the eyes, he didn't change that much. And sometimes the reward is worth the risk."

Anderson raised an eyebrow," Quite. I believe I've said that on a couple of occasions myself. Or something similar. Work out the basics of the plan with Perez and bring it to me." He nodded and left the room. Anderson leaned back in his chair a bit, he never realized how much he missed having this particular human around. He was actually happy he graced Mitchell with the red armor.

***

"This is nuts," Melissa stated as she read the note in his hands. Two days after Jack encounter with Mitchell they get this down the grapevine. Her first instinct was to rip it up, nothing about it felt right. But Emily was there and convinced her to show it to Jack. She had no idea why she listened at this particular time. They found him and Rachel in the gym. Jack face was still bruised and bandaged as he pounded the hell out of the heavy bag. He only stopped when Rachel pointed out they were there.

"You're holding a piece of paper and that can't be good," he commented.

"Mitchell wants you one on one," she told them. "They talked to their contacts and word just now got to us. He even designated when and where if you can believe it." Jack took the note without another word.

Dropping the note to the floor he headed for the exit, "It's tomorrow, I'm there."

"Are you nuts?", Rachel asked as she picked up the note and read it for herself. "You're not even healed from the last time."

"It's something I have to do," was his only explanation as he kept going.

"Do you want to show you exactly how short that leash is?", Melissa told him making him stop in his tracks. "I know he hurt you but I'm not going to risk everything because you want revenge. And don't think a lot of people will be backing you this time around."

"This isn't about what he did to me," he told her.

Apparently Rachel didn't believe him either, "I'm sorry Jack but even I know better this time around."

"And he used the word 'cell' last time," Jack told them. "If they didn't know it before they know now there's more than one group of rebels out there. And how soon before he goes looking for them if I don't show up, if he hasn't already. Those cells will be facing a Drakan Killer who's going to have no problem killing anybody who get's in his way. He has to be stopped before he starts living up to the name."

She looked him in the eyes and read him. Melissa was a bit surprised, there were a couple of things in there that indicated revenge but that wasn't what was driving his words at the moment. Thinking it over for a moment she slowly said, "I guess we have a day to work it out." Jack nodded and Rachel just looked at her as they left. Turning toward Emily she said, "One of these days we are going to sit down and you're going to explain to me exactly what this champion business is you planted in his head."

"It's nothing I planted child," she said, "it was something that was already there. Certain events just brought it out of him, even if he's still trying to figure it out what it means for him."

***

The "meeting" place was at the pier, specifically near the area where they rebuilt Richie. Mitchell was definitely trying to push any button he could. Rachel insisted on coming with him saying she wanted to watch his back if he tried anything, despite the fact Sparky, Arron and the others were going to be around to cover the area. He only agreed to let her come this far after making her promise to get out of there if it got violent, which would probably be pretty quick if things went down like he thought they would. When they found him Mitchell was actually leaning against the same building they kept Richie in. "Rachel, long time no see," he grinned. "Are you making the job of tracking you down easier after I take down Jack?"

"No she just wanted a reminder of what a jackass actually looked like," Jack said as they got off the bike.

Laughing a bit as he got off the wall he said, "Cute, I hope you're still this funny while you're both in a detention cell." Mitchell started to do his movements. Jack did the same as Rachel quickly backed away. "Transform!", Mitchell shouted.

"Henshin!", Jack said at once. Their armor formed around them as that ran. Jack went low at the last second and kicked his legs out from under him. Mitchell quickly kicked him away and got back to his feet. He found himself backing up from Mitchells' attacks. Then he went in and under a left hook and hit him in the gut as hard he could. Quickly following up with a knee he grabbed him by the head. Mitchell broke his grip and hit several punches to his chest while he was open. Jack was forced to stumble back and fell to a knee. Mitchell took a second to gloat before aiming a kick at his head. He caught the other mans' foot and pushed him back. Walking into a backhand Jack was grabbed and barely kept up as Mitchell started running. Next thing he knew he was flying in the air.

Landing on a loading he heard Mitchell cry out, "Damn it, I was aiming for a corner." Jack got to his feet and saw Mitchell come right at him. Diving out of the way he thought fast as he saw a pipe by Mitchell. Jumping for the pipe Jack swung foreword and planted both of his feet in his chest. Jack ran at him and tackled him, crashing through the door behind him. He got in a couple of punches in before getting pushed off. Mitchell went for a back roundhouse that he stepped away from. He went in fast using the other man leg to jump off as he kicked him in the head. Jack got behind him, grabbed him by the waist and threw him. Again Mitchell broke his grip, flipped backwards in the air and landed on his feet. Jack got up and got tagged with a right hook that sent him back top the floor. Mitchell stood over him saying, "I guess that fall took more out of you than I thought. You're actually putting up a fight this time around. Too bad the end is still going to be the same." He kicked him in the head before he could to anything.

***

Rachel ran toward the warehouse they crashed into. She didn't tell Jack but she had another reason for wanting to come with him. When she reached the door she saw Jack on the ground and Mitchell picking his shots. Her hand going for her jean pocket she ran toward them. In her hand was the same device Mitchell used on him, fully recharged. He didn't see her coming until it was too late and she slapped it on his back. She stepped back as Mitchell did everything not to scream as the charge racked his body. Like she hopped the armor faded away and he fell to his all fours. "Jack are you…," was all she got out as Mitchell popped back up and hit her with a backhand that had a very audible smack that sent her sprawling to the floor.

Mitchell stood over her and spat, "You stupid bi…*gack*!". She looked up to see him trying to pry Jack's hand from around his neck.

"Big mistake," his voice was dripping with anger as he wouldn't let up. Mitchell quickly drew his gun. For a brief moment Rachel thought they found a way to turn that metal into bullets shells. Then he pointed it right at her. Jack started to squeeze harder. The muzzle of the gun started shaking slightly but it was still aimed at her and she was too scared to move. Mitchell face was turning a deep red but the gun wouldn't waiver. It was almost like he was challenging Jack to do it before he could pull the trigger. Jack threw him to the side after a moment. He put his arms around her and forced her head back down to the ground. Rachel felt her heart skipped a beat as she heard the gun fire and the bullets ping off of his armor.

"Jack, Rachel!", Arron shouted in his wolf form as he lead some of the others into the building. Mitchell fired off a few more rounds to keep them at bay.

"You're luck going to run out one of these days," he croaked before running off. Jack got off of her stood there watching Mitchell leave, his fist shaking slightly. He deactivated the armor after it looked like it was clear.

"We found most of the troopers and sent them running," Arron explained. "We came as soon as we heard the gunfire." He looked down at her and went to a knee immediately, "Geez Rachel what happened to you? You're going to have a bit of a mouse under that eye."

"What?", Jack turned toward them and hurried over. He knelt down and she looked away not wanting him to see for some reason. Gently he took her by the chin and looked at the damage. She watched the concern in his eyes turn into something colder in a couple of blinks. He grunted, "I'm going to kill him," as he looked to were Mitchell went and started to get up. Rachel grabbed his arm to stop him.

"I want to go home," she said.

"Might not be a bad idea," Arron agreed.

Jack looked at her and his eyes soften again as he softly said, "OK." Kneeling back down he told Arron, "Let's give her a few minutes first." She was going to ask why then she noticed her hands were still shaking. She only been close to dying one other time, and she was unconscious for most of that one. Jack stayed with her rubbing her neck and shoulder until the shaking stopped. Again he took her by the chin and lifted her head up. With that half grin of his on his face he said, "You're suppose to be the smart one in this duo. Leave the rough stuff to me in the future, ok."

She grinned back, "I'm not making any promises."

"Good enough," he said.

***

Mitchell didn't go far, only a couple of building away. The mission was blown and Jack got away, again. But he couldn't stop smiling to himself. Still holding his throat he looked back at where he came from he said out loud, "You shouldn't have shown me that one Jack."


	42. Chapter 42

Episode 42

She knew something was wrong when she woke up and nothing happened. Rachel waited a few more minutes, still nothing. Rolling over she saw his cot was empty. He was getting better at hiding the fact those nightmares were still waking him up, but they still happened like clockwork. Getting out of bed and into her jeans she went looking for him. Seeing only one other person in the hallway she asked, "Did you Jack?".

"I saw him heading for the gym," she replied.

"Thanks Tina." She should have guessed that's were he'd be. It was almost impossible to get him out of there for the past couple of days. As soon as Lance arrived, which was about everyday now, off to the gym they went. Rachel heard him pound on the heavy before she even reached the door. She stood by silently and watched. His face wasn't as swollen anymore but it was still bandaged and bruised, and she subconsciously rubbed the bruise on her cheek. For several minutes he threw punches at the bag, occasionally mixing in a kick or a knee. He paused only long enough to acknowledge she was there before continuing. "Getting an early jump before Lance arrives," she joked. She knew what he was doing, he was trying to tire himself out. "So what happened in the nightmare this time?" Jack lost his rhythm for a second and she knew she hit the mark. "You're supposed to tell me when you have one," Rachel reminded him.

"I didn't want to wake you," he answered. Then he added, "For the forth time this week."

"That kind of goes against our no more secrets rule," She informed him. Sitting on the bench she patted the spot next to her to get him to join her. Reluctantly he did so but he was having a hard time looking at her. "Something in that nightmare changed, so what was it?"

Jack waited a few moments before answering, "I finally saw the other person the Drakan were going after." He closed his eyes and put a hand over them, "They were going after you."

She wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "Hey, I'm right here. Nothing happened."

"I know, I just…," he trailed off. Opening his eyes again he said, "I wish this nightmare would just go away."

"So do I," she rubbed his back. "But Dusty says it'll go away when it goes away. So is Lance going by again today?" He said he was. "Why have you guys been training so much for the past week?"

"Because Sparky and Arron keep holding back on me."

"Holding back on you? I don't get it."

"Mitchell is stronger and faster than I am," he said looking serious. "System to system I can't compete, but maybe I can hold my own if I get better fighting wise. And I can't do that if people are going to treat me with kid gloves."

"You seem to be holding your own to me," Rachel told him.

"I'm basically just a street fighter while he's been trained," he continued. "I'm basically fighting on instinct instead of anything else. He mentioned two of the fights I've been in, the one with the bat at Dusty's and the woman we faced when we were forced to move. He was right, I was lucky in both fights."

"Luck had nothing to do with those fights," she tried to tell him. "Mitchell doesn't know…"

"You figured out the bats weakness," he said. "And if that wasp didn't get her spike stuck in that pillar I don't think I would have gotten another opening. I need to get better if I'm going to have a chance when I fight Mitchell again."

"You're letting him get to you," Rachel informed him. "That what he wants, to get in your head. You can't be listening to what he's trying to tell you."

"I can't help it if he's right," he told her.

"Come on," she said getting up, "we both now you're better than he thinks you are. Luck only gets you so far and you wouldn't have lasted this long if that's all you relied on. But if you insist on doing this you're going to need your sleep." Dragging him to his feet she added, "Besides you have another engagement today you have to worry about." Rachel smiled at how confused he looked.

***

Everybody but Jack apparently knew what that other engagement was. Even Lance said they were going to get in what they could before he had to stop and shower up. Then he found out what it was, he was going to help some of the younger kids learn how to dance. He sat on a box waiting for the kids to show and asked Rachel, "Why am I doing this again?"

"Because you agreed to it," Rachel said.

"I think you agreed for me," he commented, "behind my back."

"They asked you to do this a few weeks ago," she informed him matter of factly.

"Was I in my right mind then? Because I don't think I was."

She didn't miss a beat, "I don't think you've ever been in your right mind. And you're not getting out of this, you promised you'd do it. The kids have been looking foreword to this."

"They just want to see if I'll fall on my face."

"Behave yourself," she told him as the teacher brought the kids in. Jennifer, who was still holding on to Polly, was in the group and waved at him. Jack found himself smiling and waving back. Rachel made him get on his feet.

"Alright children," the teacher said, "today we're going to learn a basic dance. Jack and Rachel have agreed to help us out." He snorted and Rachel shot him a quick look. "Now before we get started perhaps Rachel and Jack will show us how it's done." They turned toward each other Jack put one hand on her back and took her hand with his other while Rachel put her free hand on his shoulder. One more time he worried about how hard he was holding her hand and lightened his grip up a little.

"Ew," a little boy said, "we have to touch them?"

"Wait until you get older kid," Jack told him. With a smile he added, "Then they get really icky."

"Don't put thoughts like that in their heads," Rachel chided him.

"Sparky lives down here and you're worried about me?"

The teacher coughed, "Alright then, if you two are willing to show them what the dance is suppose to look like." She put on some music and they started dancing. Every so often the teacher would explain what they were doing. After awhile she remained quiet and continued dancing.

"You're better than I thought you'd be," Rachel commented.

"I'm not a total klutz now," he said.

"Did you mom teach you to dance?"

"Actually it was my uncle."

"That seems a little… weird," she said.

"You're telling me," he a greed. "There were a couple of times I think he got a wo…"

"Jack," Rachel quickly cut him off.

"Right," he said a she looked around and felt a little embarrassed. "I forgot the kids were here."

They danced for a few more minutes before the teacher stopped the music. "Alright kids you saw how it was done so let's give it a go. Rachel, do you two want to stay and dance with them?". Rachel looked his way and they both agreed. Jennifer ran up to him and took his hand. "That's the spirit," the teacher said. "Come on now, the rest of you don't have to be shy." Slowly they partnered up and the music started.

"Ok kid," Jack aid to Jennifer, who was still holding her bear, "tell Polly I'm leading." Jennifer wasn't sure what to do at first, especially with the height difference. He told her to step on his toes and let him to the work. That did the trick as she was excited she was dancing. Jack just happened to look up and saw Rachel was smiling at them. He started to smile back.

After about a half hour, and several stepped on toes, Melissa came in and watched them for a minute. Rachel saw her and said, "It's time to go already?"

"Afraid so," she answered, "the van waiting for you in the garage."

"Where are you going?", Jack asked.

"Lances' cell needed some help moving some things," Rachel answered. "Melissa said it was getting pretty crowded the last time she was there and we have a few empty safe houses they can use. I figured I'd give them a hand. I mean after everything Lance and his cell has done for us it's the least I can do."

"I'll help out too," Jack said.

"That's ok Jack," she replied, "I think it would be better if I go alone this time."

"Why? Are these safe houses in the middle of the city or something?"

"No, they're in a secluded area," she said, "but… Do you want to take this one?", she asked Melissa.

"From what I understand a good chunk of his cell knows about you living here," Melissa said, "mainly from those he took him while we moved. We're just not sure if they're ready for you yet."

"You can't keep hiding me forever," Jack told them.

"Next time," Rachel said, "I promise, but I really have to go."

"Rachel," Jack said as she reached the door, "be careful."

"I always am," she said, "unlike some people I could mention."

Jack watched her leave and kept looking. Jennifer kind of giggled as she said, "You like her."

He just looked at her, "Don't start kid."

***

Mitchell hated playing catch up, but being out of it as long as he was he really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. One of the first things he asked about was that new metal a couple of the guys mentioned. The one that could apparently pierce or slice through his and Jacks' armor. Armstrong explained that it needed a slight electric charge running through it in order to be one hundred percent effective. They only thing keeping them from turning it into a bullet was the fact they couldn't find a way to charge the bullet and maintain its durability. The first couple of attempts the internal generator was so big it made the shell so thin it shattered on impact during the first couple of experiments. And the process to refine the metal was a long one so any weapon production was limited at them moment.

So Jacks' "luck" saved his bacon one more time.

The next thing he learned about was this new scanner. They could detect Jacks' chip no matter what he did to cover it as long as he was in twenty feet of it. They scattered them throughout the city, just far enough apart that he could walk into any of them. The only problem with that was he stayed out of the city as much as possible. Even when he did those scanners mysteriously went down or gave a negative reading. So he and the rebels had to know about them. Mitchell was surprised nobody made a move to disguise them or move them to another location when that happened, at least put a couple under surveillance. That would have been the first thing he would have done when that happened.

Then there was the most interesting piece of news he heard, they had captured a cell. And some where willing to talk to save their own skin. Not that it did them any good but they talked. This particular cell was the quote unquote quick hit espionage cell, and they knew things. Like the location of several safe houses the main group was known to use. Right now they were empty but under constant surveillance. And he raced over in a hurry to a particular watch station when he got the word. He quickly met with the surveillance team that was stationed in a wooden shack not far from the house. "Are you sure it's her?"

"See for yourself," his man said while handing him the binoculars. He scanned every inch of that house. There where people coming in and out of it and it took a couple of minutes but he spotted a head of blond hair. That was Rachel alright. "Can you imagine what the boss is going to say when we bring her in?"

"Yeah I can," Mitchell said not taking his eyes off of her. They were making this just too easy. "But who says it has to be right away."

His man started smiling, "You thinking about calling an audible?"

"The thought crossed my mind."

"You thinking about getting a little extra payback for zapping you?"

"Not exactly," he said. Oh he remembered her slapping that armor disruptor on his back. But more importantly he remembered Jack's reaction when he hit her. "No, I'm going to see exactly how big of a chink she is in his armor."

***

Melissa found it pretty easy to get into a new routine for her "strolls" as Rachel often called them. She had too otherwise she would have gotten lost pretty fast. Finding herself in the common area she found Jack hanging around the comm. area, leaning against the wall, arm crossed and tapping his fingers against his arm. Looking up at her he asked, "How much stuff did Lance want to move?"

"You're acting like an old mother hen," she joked. He looked back at the comm. area. Melissa didn't want to say it out loud but she was surprised they haven't heard anything yet too. But she decided not to add to his worry. "If Rachel acting anything like she did when we had to move than she doing everything to maximize the space."

"And he wasn't out there either," he said absentmindedly. The "he" being Mitchell of course. If she had to be honest it was a little weird seeing him acting this spooked. It wasn't even like when he had his breakdown, the threat was in his mind then. Now that a ghost from his past popped back up he was just on edge. "And why didn't Freidman tell us about it?", she lost count at how many times he'd asked that one.

The only thing she could do was repeat what she told him before, "Because Anderson entrusted Mitchell to a specialist in spinal injuries. From what I understand he personally flew the guy in. I never thought my cousin would do that for any human."

"I guess he appreciates a good suck up," Jack commented dryly.

"Who would have guessed," she laughed. The comm. started buzzing and his head snapped toward it. "See, I bet that's them now." She went over and put the call on speaker to calm his nerves if nothing else. "Did you guys get lost or something?", she joked.

"Yeah, I like to speak to Jack please," replied a voice she didn't recognize.

"Who is…," she started ask. The sharp spike of anger she got from Jack followed by the cold spot growing in her stomach gave her a clue.

"What did you do to here you son of a bitch!", Jack shouted as he grabbed the microphone.

"Rachel's fine buddy boy," Mitchell responded. Melissa could almost see the smirk on his face. "You would have been proud of her man. She was able to get away and hide from us for a couple of hours. Too bad for her one of the guys is part bloodhound, literally."

"If you hurt her," Jack threatened.

"She's fine Jack." Then he added, "For now any way. Say in another hour and a half and who knows."

"Mitchell I am going to…," he started.

"Calm down," Melissa whispered to him. "You're giving him what he wants."

"But I'm willing to give you a chance to come get her," Mitchell continued. "Right now we're on top of the Goldcup building. It apparently went out of business while I was out so nobody's around. I even deactivated the scanners around the building for a couple of blocks around the building so it'll just be the two of us. If you can get past me you can have her. Scouts honor. Times ticking away Jack, she's waiting for you." Mitchell cut off the transmission before he could respond.

Before anybody could say anything to him Jack turned around and punched a crate. "It has to be a trap," Melissa said without thinking.

"Of course it's a trap," he snapped. "But I can't…," he couldn't finish as he ran a hand over his face. "I can't just leave her in their hands. Not after all we've been through."

"We're not," she assured him as she walked over to him "We'll think of a plan and get there before she knows it."

Jack looked up and saw Sparky come in to see what the commotion was all about. Melissa watched as an idea seem to occur to him. Through the despair she got a glimmer of hope from him. She watched with a bit of wonder as she studied his face. She'd seem him react to a situation, she'd seen him jump in without question and she'd even seen him try to laugh things off. But this was the first time that she had ever seen him look like he was trying to form a plan. "Sparky," he called out after several moments, "find Arron and Angie and meet me in the garage. I'll explain once you guys get there."

Jack started for the garage before Melissa could question him. "Angie doesn't know how to fight," she informed him.

He turned around but kept moving for the garage, "If this works she won't have to." Turning back around he ran for the garage.

She watched him for a second before turning toward to the guys manning the comm., "I know we have some people around that building. Tell them to look for those scanners and find out if they are deactivated or not. And if they're not to turn them off or reroute the signal. Anything to help him out." They went to work calling and she looked toward the garage. Despite her worry a small smile graced her lips, "And I thought love made you stop thinking."

***

The trip to the building was uneventful, although he kept looking over his shoulder for an assault team van to come at him. It took a while when he reached the building but he found a way to get to the roof from the outside, of course it was guarded. He knew Mitchell wouldn't make this easy. Carefully he approached the shock trooper and squeezed the boomstick to pop the electrode. Turning the ring just slightly Jack grabbed him from behind and jabbed him in the back. The trooper jolted for a second before dropping to the ground. For something he hadn't used before the stun setting been coming pretty handy tonight, that was the fifth guard he had to take care of so far. Making sure nobody else was around he started to climb the fire escape, somewhat surprised there was no other guards station on it.

Jack slowed his pace as he neared the roof, peering over the side to check out the situation. His heart nearly stopped when he saw Rachel gagged with her hands tied over her head to a support pole for the Goldcup sign. Mitchell stood right in front of her. She recoiled as best she could as he reached out and stroked her bruised cheek, "That wouldn't have happen to you if you didn't interfere. Tell me, did Jack try to kiss it and make it feel better? I had the feeling he was into you before you guys cut and ran. So did you guys ever…?", he made particular motion with his fingers. "Can he even do it?", Mitchell laughed. Rachel looked like she as about to kill him herself, and probably had a few French words floating around in her head at the moment.

His first instinct was to smash his head in, but he was doing everything possible to ignore it. He was trying to stay focused on the scanner attached to his belt. Jack had about twenty feet before it went off from the chip in his head. He had to chance it. Guessing there was about thirty between them that gave him ten to figure out how to distract him long enough. Slowly he made his way toward Mitchell. Things were going good until some birds got startled and flew out of their nest. Mitchell heard it and turned around as he ran full speed. Mitchell got an arm up and the belt appeared but Jack tackled him before he could finish the sequence. Despite the wind being knocked out of him Mitchell was able to force Jack off of him. He got to his feet faster than Jack expected and started after him. They were on more even footing this time around and Jack was still barely able to keep up with him. Then Mitchell threw a straight right that Jack caught with his hand. It took a little effort but Jack was able to slowly push it back as Mitchell looked confused. A smirk grew into a smile as he said, "I'm guessing since they corrected all of the mistakes you can't throw a one sixty fastball." Before Mitchell could react Jack let go and punched him with everything he had.

Mitchell tried to get away but Jack stayed on top of him hammering away. He trapped one of Jacks legs between his and turned making him fall. Jack got up waiting for something to come at him, it didn't. Instead Mitchell ran toward Rachel, jumped up and kicked the pole she was bound to. It fell backwards startling her. "Rachel," he cried out. He didn't see the fist coming.

"Transform!", he said and finished the activation sequence. "You took you eyes off the ball Jack." Mitchell punched at him full force and Jack barely rolled out of the way. "A rookie mistake." Well this part of the plan just went to hell.

He threw the boomstick at Mitchell who blocked it and let it fall to his feet. It was enough of a distraction to let Jack activate his system, "Henshin!". Jack forced himself to calm down, Lance said loosing it or getting angry wasn't going to help in this situation. Mitchell waved him on but Jack stood his ground. He tilted his head slightly, in confusion or amusement Jack couldn't tell, then he came at him. Jack was doing a little better at defending himself this time around, but he was still lagging behind. He knew that was going to happen the moment the systems got activated. Too late to do anything about it now. Jack was able to get under a swing and deck him with an uppercut. Mitchell expected for him to follow up on it. Instead he ran for the staff and snapped it to its full length. Then he looked at the dial then at the meter, maybe…

He knew Mitchell taught him the basics of staff fighting, but probably still knew more than Jack did. Hopefully he didn't know about this little trick. He went in fast attacking with the ends of the staff at any point he could. Like he thought Mitchell blocked them with ease, now if he didn't see this one coming. Twisting the ring to full charge he was able to jam the end into his gut. While he appeared confused, Jack used that second he got to pop the electrode and sent the charge into Mitchell.

He backed up a few steps and one more time the turbines in his belt started to spin as they absorbed the charge."I thought you would have learned last time," Mitchell sneered. Jack was counting on that as he backed away and moved to the side. Mitchell twisted the left pod down Jack didn't see that upgrade coming, but he set his surprise aside as Mitchell jumped up. He jumped out of the way but he realized too late he was too close to Rachel. Mitchell landed a couple of feet in front of her and after a moment that part of the roof exploded. The pole she was tied to fell back even more, he scream was muffled by the gag.

"Rachel!", Jack went for her. Mitchell pulled him back and punched him down. OK, screw the plan he had a new goal now. Jack went in hard and fast, catching the other man off guard at how viscous he was being. He didn't care if he had a superior system Jack was not going to let him stop him. He racked Mitchell with punches and knees. Rachel muffled scream caught his attention again. The pole fell even more and it look like she was going to slide off and fall. Again Mitchell picked that moment to attack him.

He knocked Jack to the ground after several punches. Before he could do anything else a green wolf and a blue eel came out of hiding and attacked Mitchell. "Go!" both of them yelled.

Jack didn't need any more encouragement as he ran toward Rachel. She started slipping more as the pole bent further and he ran faster. Jack jumped for it the same time she fell. He grabbed the rope binding her wrist with one hand as the grabbed the ledge of the roof with his other arm, "Gotcha!". He looked back to see Mitchell keep Arron and Sparky at bay. Then he looked across the street and shouted, "Anytime Angie!" Within moments a blue Drakan dove with dyed red and purple feathers on her head flew over.

"Don't worry, I got her," Angie said as she grabbed Rachel around the waist. They flew back with her saying, "Geez Rachel, you're heavier than you look."

Jack turned back to see Mitchell knock both of his friends away and look in his direction. He saw the meter start to flash in his visor as he pulled himself up. Mitchell ran at him as he got a foot on the ledge. Then he jumped, flipping over Mitchell and kicking him in the head to knock him foreword. As he landed he twisted the pod up and turned around to see Mitchell grab on to the ledge to keep from falling. Jack punched the slab between his hands and backed up. Mitchell looked at where he punched then at him, Jack raised up his hand and wiggled his fingers goodbye right before it exploded. Mitchell fell to the street and right into a passing garbage truck that kept on going. "I didn't know they made night runs" Arron commented as he and Sparky walked up and watched the truck with him.

Sparky asked as they returned to their human forms, "Would that be considered ironic?"

"I don't know," Jack said, "but it sure is appropriate."

***

Angie helped her untie her wrist and get the gag off. Then she flew her back over when they got the all clear from Arron. Jack ran over and wrapped his arms around her she put her feet on the roof, "Thank God you're all right."

She put her arms around him just grateful to be there. But she still had to say, "Don't cut it so close next time."

"There's not going to be a next time but I'll work on it." He looked aver to Angie, "Thank you."

"What are friends for?", Angie said as she made her way toward Sparky. For some reason she felt him loosen his grip but his arms were still around her. So she tightened her grip around him.

After a few more moments Sparky asked, "You two want to get a room or something?" Angie elbowed him in the ribs.

"Shut up Sparky," Rachel told him.

***

When they got back everybody crowded them. Melissa pulled Rachel away from him almost as soon as they got there. Rachel didn't look like she wanted to go but he was quickly surrounded by people telling good job and couldn't follow. About an hour later he caught up with her in an empty hallway. He walked up to her saying, "I thought I told you to leave the rough stuff to me."

"Well you weren't there to do anything," she told him.

"You're the one who told me not to go," he shot back

"You choose then to listen to me?", she said.

"I didn't want to make a scene in front of the kids." Both of them kind of laughed. She started off as he thought about that moment. He grabbed her arm saying, "Wait a sec, I never dipped you."

"You never what?", she asked confused.

"While we were dancing," he explained, "I never dipped you."

"It's not that important."

"Are you kidding?", he said as he took her hand and held her close. "My dipping gets raves."

"You're crazy," she laughed again.

"You know it." Jack tried to imitate the music and they started dancing. After a few moments Jack bent her backwards and quickly brought her back up. She laughed despite herself, "See."

"OK, I'll admit it that was kind of fun."

"Told ya." It took a moment but Jack realized he wasn't letting go of her.

"Yeah… you did," she said looking him in the eyes. She wasn't exactly pulling away either.

"Yeah… I… uh," Jack found his head leaning toward her and hers lifting up to meet him. They almost kissed before a noise startled them. When they looked back they noticed both of them took two steps back.

The moment broken Rachel looked unsure as she said, "Dusty coming over to check me out. I told everybody I was fine, but you know how he is."

"Yeah," Jack said feeling nervous for some reason. "I better go find Sparky and them and thank them again for helping out." They both headed in different directions. After a few minutes Jack was talking to himself, "I love you. I love you. Why can't I say it when she's around?"

***

Rachel ducked into the nearest women restroom and locked the door. Leaning against the sink she stared at her reflection in the dirty mirror. After awhile she said,


	43. Chapter 43

Episode 43

Anderson stared a hole into Mitchell as he stood in front of the desk. Part of him had to give the human credit, he wasn't withering from the gaze. He personally knew of a couple of greens who would have begun sweating right about now. It was one of the reasons why he was usually proud to be associated with this particular human. Then last night happened. Evenly he spoke, "I am extremely disappointed with you Mitchell."

"I know sir," Mitchell replied while staying attention and staring straight ahead.

"We had Haily," he was having a hard time keeping his temper under control. "She was captured and in our custody. Half of the job was already done. She was Davidson's support system, without her he would have been easier to deal with if not captured out right." Slowly he stood and stared him in the eyes. "Then you decided to play a game." Slapping his hand on the desk he demanded, "Why would you think that would be even remotely acceptable?"

"I was testing out something I discovered during a previous encounter with Jack," was his only explanation.

"And what was that?"

"That Rachel was a hole in personal armor. I was trying to exploit it." Many men would have started making excuses why the plan didn't work. Mitchell left it there apparently realizing there was nobody to blame but himself.

"So you had her play the damsel in distress against her will." Anderson dropped back into his chair. "And the reason why you didn't think you could test this," he searched for the right word, "experiment here was?"

"I didn't think he'd come. We have captured rebels before and brought them here and not once have they made an attempt to rescue any of them."

"That maybe Mitchell but in this case your estimate was wrong." Anderson studied his face for any hint of a reaction but that poker face of his was as strong as ever. "You see Mitchell while you just saw a man relaying on his luck as you put it, I watched him while he was still here and read the reports of how he was acting after he left. I do believe I can safely say that with or without the rebels consent Davidson would have found a way to make an attempt." Again the human said nothing. "Instead of following procedure you went out on your own and ended up with the garbage. Dismissed!" Mitchell saluted, turned around sharply and exited the office. Anderson sat back and tried to get himself under control, slamming his fist on the desk when he could not do so right away.

***

It had been a week since anything had happened. Melissa knew it was the build up until something big happened, but she didn't have the heart to dampen the relaxed vibe she had been getting around the habitat. Actually it was nice to get that vibe again. Some of the adults were playing ball with the children. A lot of people were sitting around and shooting the breeze. Even Jason seemed less grumpy than usual. Then there was Jack and Rachel. He was sitting on a crate and she was standing against it looking in a particular direction. Staying behind them she leaned against it and asked, "So what are we looking at?"

"The new hot item underground," Rachel answered. Looking between them she saw Sparky and Angie across the room doing the couple thing, holding hands and looking happy to be together.

"Ah, young love in bloom," she glanced at both of them to gauge their reaction to her choice of words.

Dense as ever Jack said, "I don't know if I should be happy Sparky found somebody or sad Angie apparently settled at a young age."

"Now don't talk like that," Rachel told, oblivious to what she said as well. "We should be happy they found some happiness in all of this mess. Some people don't know what they have until they lose it."

"No kidding," he agreed. "I can't count the number of times I've seen people have it right under their nose and not realize it." Silently Melissa watched them as an awkward silence grew between them. Rachel turned her head and started to say something but quickly found something else completely interesting. Jack pulled back the sleeve of his jacket than glanced at her before looking in another reaction. Melissa dropped her head in frustration. What she really wanted to do was reach out and crack their heads together, but she was afraid that would hurt Rachel more than anything. Looking back up she silently urged one of them to make the first move already.

Resisting a very strong urge to shout out, "one of you say I love you already," she said out loud, "It's probably a good thing nobody else thinks like you do Jack. Otherwise they wouldn't stand a chance."

She got something weird from him right before he said, "Then you might want to have a little discussion with Arron, he's taking bets on how long they're going to last."

"You're kidding?" One look from Rachel gave her the answer, "You're not kidding."

"This idiot put in five bucks," Rachel informed her.

Jack tried to defend himself, "I gave then four years, that's a lot longer than anybody else gave them. Arron was saying six months tops. I probably won't even remember if I won or lost money on that bet."

"That's not the point," Rachel told him. "You're betting on your best friend's love life. That's like them betting on us for some reason." Melissa didn't have the heart to tell them there was a wager going on for when they would actually "do it". Then again she hadn't lost the bet yet so there was no point really. Come to think of it Arron started that bet too. Melissa was going to have a talk with him one of these days.

"My best friend is standing right here," Jack said pointing right at Rachel. That took Melissa a bit by surprise. "I though we had this discussion already."

"I though you were trying o make me feel better," Rachel told him.

"Have I ever done or said anything to make you feel better?" Jack looked confused for a moment, "Wait, that didn't sound right."

Behind them Melissa started smirking, best friend wasn't an "I love you" but it was a step in the right direction. At least for these two.

***

"Is that all you got Jack?", Lance told him. Once again they were in the gym and everybody gave them some space. Lance held up the padded gloves in front of him and insisted, "Come on show me a combo." Jack threw three punches and finished with a knee. Lance absorbed each one with the gloves. "I saw that knee coming a mile away. Mix it up Jack." He threw another punch combo and a knee but finished up with a spinning backhand. "That's better, you almost caught me sleeping with that one." After a few more combos he said, "Alright let's take a break."

"I can still go," Jack protested.

"And there's no point in fighting Mitchell if you're just going to drop from exhaustion."

"And I told you I didn't want anybody to hold back on me."

"There's holding back on you and then there's trying to smarting you up," Lance told him. "Tiring yourself out is not the way to get you any better. Hell I'm surprised you picked up anything during this crash course we got going." Taking the gloves off he went, "Come on sit, the water is on me."

Reluctantly Jack did so, although he gratefully took the offered water. "It's just frustrating you know. When we're both in out armor I'm barely able to keep my head from getting knocked off. But the one time I had the advantage he was holding his own without any problem."

"Yeah, and he and every single one of Anderson's shock troopers is a trained fighter. Mitchell has years of experience and training over you Jack," Lance told him, how he could make a lecture not sound like one amazed Jack to no end. "You can't expect to close that gap in this short of time." That was not what he wanted to hear right about now. "Look Jack I've seen you fight a few times, and from what I can tell you have some pretty good instincts. But you have to fight a little smarter too."

"You say that every freaking day," groaned. He knew it was true but he was getting sick of hearing it.

"And you know you can do it too. Arron and Sparky both told me how you outsmarted him last time."

Jack turned away, "I just got lucky." He nearly fell off the bench when Lance punched him in the arm. "OW, what the hell?"

"New rule, "Lance pointed a finger in his face, "any time you put anything you've done down as luck you're getting punched." Snorting a bit he added, "Rachel told me I'd have to whack you in the head to get you to listen but I didn't think she was serious."

Rubbing his shoulder he asked, "And what would you call what happened?"

"Thinking on your feet," Lance answered plainly. "That's the one real advantage you have." Jack wasn't convinced and apparently it showed. "Look Rachel told me about this luck thing Mitchell apparently stuck on. And maybe in a couple of the fights you've been in you did get lucky. But I sincerely doubt luck played a factor in all of them." Lance looked around then leaned in, "like I said I've seen you fight. I even talked to Sparky, Rachel, Arron anybody who had ever seen you throw down with a Drakan. And I've got the same thing from all of them. When you think you have a purpose you're a totally different person. Even if you don't realize you had one at the moment."

Jack eyes narrowed a bit as he looked at him, "Who told you about the champion crap?"

Hesitating a bit he eventually answered, "Melissa. She didn't know what to make of it either. But I think I have an idea though."

"Do you want to clue me in then? I kinda like to know what in the hell I'm supposed to be doing."

"I don't think it's my place to say."

"Damn it," Jack blurted as he got up. "I've been wrapping my head around thing crap for weeks trying to figure what it's supposed to mean. Do I hang back and wait for them to do something? Or do I go after them before they get a chance to do anything?"

Lance waited until Jack sat back down before saying anything, "This is one of those things you're going to have to figure out for yourself. But from the way people are talking you're close to figuring it out." Putting a hand on his shoulder he said, "When you do figure it out my gut's telling me Anderson better watch out because his days are going to be numbered."

"Thanks Lance," Jack eventually said.

"You kidding, I should still be thanking you. I though Dusty was going to kill me the other day for accidently ripping those stitches over your eye."

"I was more worried about Rachel ripping you a new one," Jack laughed. "Me and Dusty just got in each others way."

"Come on break time's over," Lance said. "Let's spar for awhile." They got on the mat and started circling each other, throwing a kick or a punch to test the others defenses. Almost casually Lance said, "Speaking of Rachel, when are the two of you going to stop beating around the bush and make it official?"

Stopping what he was doing Jack exclaimed, "You to?" Next thing he knew Lance grabbed him by the arm and he went flying over his shoulder and crashing into the mat. And judging from the smirk on Lances' face that was a lesson on being prepared for anything. Jack pointed a finger up at him, "That was low."

***

"How are the canned goods?" Michelle asked Rachel. It was time to do inventory of the supplies. Usually she wanted to do this by herself so she would get some time alone to think. But every so often it was good to have someone to talk to. It defiantly made the job go by quicker.

"Looks like we're a little low on green beans and corn," she replied. "Sparky said he has them growing the green beans so we should be good there." Rachel paused for a moment, "That still doesn't sound right for some reason."

Melissa grinned, "No it doesn't." She wrote something down on the clipboard, "So how are you doing?"

"Outside of trying not to go out of my mind I'm doing ok."

"Anything bothering you?"

"Just going a little stir crazy, that's all," she explained. "And it's not like I can step outside to get a walk for a change of scenery."

"I hear you," Melissa told her. "It's kind of hard to keep yourself entertained when the TV only gets two channels and you've done everything there is to do about twenty times. I've done the puzzles we have so many times I can do them without looking at the picture on the box."

"I never watched that much television," Rachel said. "And I can deal with the long stretches of boredom. It's the sudden spikes of excitement that we don't know that are going to hit or how bad that gets to me."

"Welcome to rebel life Rachel," Melissa said. "I'm afraid to ask but how's the bread?"

"Ew," Rachel looked as she crinkled her nose. "One loaf and it's green."

"Yuck," Melissa stuck out her tongue. "We'll give it to Dusty, he's been saying he's looking for some penicillin. This way he can make his own." Both of them chuckled a bit. But she did get something from Rachel when she said rebel life. "So what is bothering you?"

"I hate it when you do that," she told her.

"Sorry but it doesn't come with an off switch," Melissa said. "I can ignore it for the most part but every so often something slips through. So spill it." She wondered how much she was going to have to prod her before she actually talked.

Thankfully not much. "I just feel a little guilty at times. I mean I was helping World Inc. track you guys down and take you out. I never knew I was on the wrong side of this thing."

"I'm sure my cousin thinks he's solely in the right in this situation," Melissa said. "But as somebody once said this is a war, there no such thing as a good guy or a bad guy. Just two sides that think they're right and the other side is wrong."

Rachel just looked at her, "Didn't Jack say that?"

Melissa just shrugged, "I never said it was a smart person who said it." Rachel kept looking at her and she couldn't help put laugh. Eventually she joined in. "Don't sweat it Rachel, you were just doing your job, just like we were. I know Chris kept himself up at nights wondering if he made the right decision or not. I'm still amazed he never got an ulcer. And if he did he did a great job of hiding it. I wish I could ask him what his secret was because I feel like one is coming on every so often."

"I think my aunt had a remedy for that, "Rachel said trying to remember. "I'll see if we have the stuff to make it for you."

Smiling to herself Melissa said, "Does it involve stopping a gator with a look?"

There was a brief flash of annoyance from Rachel's direction, "That really happened."

"If you say so," she replied causally. Like she thought there was another flash of annoyance.

***

Emily walked the halls trying to find Lance. He had received a call from his people not that long ago. They discovered something but didn't want to check it out in fear of being caught. Of course Melissa said that they would check it out and Lance said he'd go along since it was suppose to be his cell's job. Jack, Rachel, Sparky and Arron all agreed to go along. That was why she had to talk to him about it. Finally she found him, "Lance."

"Oh hi Emily," he said, "sorry but I can't really talk now, the others are waiting for me."

"That's why I have to talk to you."

"What's wrong Emily? Is Mitchell going to show up or something?"

"It's possible but I can't say for sure," she answered. "But Anderson has been targeting your cell lately."

"Don't remind me," Lance grimaced. "I want to yell at my guys for dropping this in Melissa's lap but I can't really blame them either. Besides if Mitchell does show up Jack can hold him off."

"I'm not so sure child," Emily said.

"You don't think Jack can do it?" Lance looked like he could believe what he was hearing. "You're the one who got this whole champion thing going. Besides Jack's gone one on one with him a few times now."

"And what happened in those encounters child?", Emily asked, urgency at the edge of her voice. "The first time if the others did not get to him in time we would have lost him. The second time Rachel interfered. Last time he had Arron and Sparky with him. There has not been a time where he has faced him totally alone. I know there will be a time when Jack will be able to face him one on one with no interference. Now is not that time." She clutched his arm surprising him, "Please child, we need Jack if we are to finish this. I ask of you, please don't let him face him alone."

Lance looked unsure of what to do, "I'll do what I can," and he left. Emily hoped it would be enough to bring them all home safe.

***

How did he just know this thing was going to be in the middle of nowhere? They had passed nothing but trees for the last twenty minutes or so. At least it was night so they'd be able to see any headlights coming their way. Rachel grip around him got a little tighter and Jack smiled under the helmet. If it wasn't for the fact this was an actual job this would have been fun. "Hey," he called back to her, "want to try and beat them to our destination?"

"Save it for the track 'Masked Rider'," Rachel told him. Despite hating that tag Sparky stuck on him he grinned even more. "Besides they got he map, we could get lost out here."

"You make that sound like a bad thing."

"Just keep you eyes on the road,"

"Yeah," he deadpanned, "I don't want to miss a different shape of rock." After a few more moments Sparky's hand came out of the driver side window single them to stop. They jumped out of the van while Jack and Rachel took of their helmets. "What's up, are we there?"

"I thought I saw something," Arron said while looking into the woods around them.

"Am I the only one who gets a bad feeling every time somebody says that?", he asked.

"No your not," Rachel said as she got off the bike. "So how big was this something?"

"I really don't want to know," Jack muttered.

Arron answered anyway, "I really didn't get a good look I just saw a flash of something."

"I think that would be me," Mitchell said as he came out of the tree line in front of them and stepped into the beams of the van headlights. Jack got in front of the group before anybody could stop him. "You see there's a bunch of guys up there waiting to ambush you, but you probably already knew that before I even showed up. Now the rest of you can keep on going and fall into it, I really don't care one way or another. But I want you," he pointed right at Jack, a particular hatred in his eyes, "right here."

Reaching behind him he pushed Rachel toward the others, "Get her out of here." Stepping foreword he stared at the other man, "Alright Mitchell let's finish this here and now." Doing the movements to activate his system he got out, "Hen…!", then something crashed into the back of the head and everything went black.

***

"What the hell?!", the one with the blue dreads cried out. Rachel and the boy immediately checked on Jack and tried to wake him up. Mitchell was scratching the back of head too, he did not see that one coming. The blond haired one just stood there with the fist he used to knock out Jack still clenched. He didn't look happy with himself, almost ashamed with himself. The blue haired one pushed him, "What the hell Lance?!"

"Get Jack out of here," was all he said. The others weren't letting up. "It's something Emily told me before we left. She hasn't been wrong yet. I'll hold him off." The others looked unsure. "I got no plans on dying, I'll meet up with you later. Now hurry up and get him out of here." He stepped foreword and got between them. After a few more seconds the blue haired one and the youth picked up Jack and put him in the van. Rachel got in with him as the youth got on the KR-1000 and they got out of there.

"Lance," Mitchell said slowly, "you're the guy in charge of the cell that's super friendly with theirs aren't you." Bowing with a sarcastic smile he said, "I am honored. We've been after you guys for a while now"

"Don't be," was all he said.

Pointing to the retreating vehicles he said, "You do realize you're just delaying the inevitable. I'm going to get him all by his lonesome sooner or later."

"Emily said he needed more time before then, so I'm giving it to him." Before his eye Lance turned into a red wolverine.

"Whatever," he told him. He did the movements for his activation sequence, "Transform!" The black body suit and red armor formed around him. They wasted no time at starting things either. Mitchell was mildly impressed with that. He knew the reds were trained fighters, but after fighting Jack it was great to go up against somebody who could give him a workout. Still he was surprised when the Drakan caught him and sent him flying. "Oh this is going to be fun," he laughed.

"You have a weird definition of fun," the rebel told him. Mitchell jumped to his feet and went after him again. This time Lance took the fight to him. He was forced to back up from the Drakan's attacks. Lance started turning around and unleashing a kick with each spin. Mitchell went low and tried to sweep his legs out from under him but he jumped over it. As he landed the Drakan slashed his claws at his head. He could see the sparks fly through the blue lenses of his helmet. He forced him away and got under one of the Drakan kicks and popped back up with an uppercut. Lance head snapped back and he looked dazed. Mitchell charged and he was caught again. His head smashed into a tree and he saw stars as the blackness almost took him. "I'm out of here," Lance said as he went to leave.

"Not yet," Mitchell said as he lunged for the Drakan. Grabbing him by the leg he tripped him up. "It's over once I say it's over!", getting up he tried to cave in the Drakan's head with a vicious kick. Lance tried to kick at him again. Mitchell caught it. With a quick snap he broke the Drakans' leg and he screamed in pain. But he kept trying to fight from his back despite the new handicap. Begrudgingly Mitchell gave him some respect for that. Lance was still able block some of the strikes being thrown at him but more than few were getting through and making contact. One punch landed right on the rebel shoulder, he felt it dislocate from the socket. Behind the helmet grinned like a maniac at the pain he was causing, picturing that was Jack clutching at his shoulder in his mind. Kicking him in the side Lance rolled over and tried to crawl away. The meter started to flash. Four limbs one choice, decisions, decisions. "Now it's over," he followed the Drakan, "time to put you down." Grabbing the right pod he twisted it down, "You're luck just ran out, just like Jack's will." He stomped him in the back and walked away.

***

"Two coming in!" Melissa heard the guard shout as she waited. She was wondering what was going on since Lances' cell said he hadn't shown up yet. That was the plan, they would check out what was going on and after it was over they'd drop Lance off on their way back. So what changed? Before she saw any of them she was getting an almost overwhelming mixture of emotions, it was staggering. But the one who was angry quickly became apparent when Jack got of his motorcycle and threw his helmet across the room. "What the hell is going on?", she demanded.

"Lance knocked me out!," Jack snapped at her. Then he immediately regretted his tone of voice as soon as he said it.

Her mind was refusing to recognize the words he said," What… wait? Lance did what? Where is he?" She tried to look into the van as the others came out. She wasn't seeing him.

"We ran into Mitchell," Rachel explained trying to stay under control. "He informed us we were heading into a trap."

"He really didn't care about us," Arron continued when she couldn't.

"All he wanted was Jack," Sparky said.

"Jack was going to fight him and let us get away," Rachel spoke back up. "Before he could Lance punched him in the back of the head."

"Where is Lance?, she demanded again.

"He took Jack's place," Rachel told her. "He told us to take Jack and get out of there." Starting to tear up she continued, "When Jack came to and figured out what was going on he demanded we turn around and head back." Jack sat down as she continued, "When we got there Sparky…," she couldn't continue.

"Sparky said he smelled Drakan blood," Jack voice cracked as he put a hand over his mouth.

Michelle knees gave out before she knew what was happening, "No." Rachel was immediately at her side with her arms around her. Jack couldn't stop the tears from falling as he sat there in silence. Sparky and Arron looked too stunned to do or say anything. Everyone around them was quiet. She kept thinking about Lance, she knew him since she was a girl He was one of the few people who genuinely believed she could do this. Now he was… gone? "NO!"


	44. Chapter 44

Episode 44

Word about Lance got to his cell faster than she expected. Melissa half expected them to blame her for what happened. But there were as stunned as she was. They got there quickly in order to perform the ceremony. Unfortunately as the, technically, highest ranked person there she was the one who had to lead it. She really didn't want to be doing this but she knew it was her duty. Her and Lance's cell crowded into the main living area of the habitat as she broke away and stood in front of them. Melissa was grateful when she turned around and saw Rachel standing right up front. Jack was standing behind her with his arms wrapped round her, both looking to the other for support.

"We lost a good man today," she began. It was against protocol but right now she didn't give a damn. "The life we chose to lead, we knew it was going to be rough. We knew there would be losses. But some losses are harder than others," her voice cracked a little. Pausing for a moment she forced her way through it. "Lance was one of the best of us. He tried his best to make everybody he worked with better. Some of us kicking and screaming." She knew she was supposed to be smiling there but it wasn't coming because she wasn't feeling it. "He did what he did because he believed in the cause and more importantly he believed in each and every person he worked with. And because he believed in us I know he would want us to go on." She closed her eyes to get herself under control. Damn it she as not going to lose it before this was over. She owed him that much. "So let us herald him to the after life and make sure his ancestors know he is more than worthy to join them." She changed into her green tiger form and the other did the same. Almost as one the Drakans in the room raised their head and howled at the ceiling.

Melissa only got half the howl out before her knees failed her again. The tears started to fall freely and she didn't even try to stop them this time as she sat there crying in front of everybody. She knew they expected her to be the strong one but damn it she lost somebody important too. Rachel was by her side in no time holding her, "It's ok," she whispered, "we're here for you."

It took a few minutes but Melissa was finally able to change back into her human form and get back to her feet. A few from her cell came foreword and echoed what Rachel had said. Before long somebody from Lance's cell came forward and said, "Melissa."

She looked up and remembered seeing the red haired man in front of her from the few times she visited his cell, "Jaime."

"I wanted you to know we've talked on the way here." She braced herself for the worse, seeing a replay of what happened with Trent after Drake died. "And no matter what you decide we'll back you one hundred percent. You're right, Lance would want us to go on."

"Thank you," she wanted to feel relieved but her voice sounded a little hollow. This was still the same cell that didn't want to do that last job because they were scared.

"I'm more than aware that we messed up big time. And because of it Lance is dead. I'll know we'll never make that up but that's not going to stop us from trying. I'll even pick up where he left off in training Jack if I have to."

"You would actually work with the Drakan Killer?", Jason asked.

"Lance was against him helping us at first," Jaime said. "But he ended up believing we need him if we're going to have a chance against Anderson. That's good enough for me.

Rachel said nothing as she looked around. Looking a bit confused she ended up saying, "Where did Jack go?"

"I saw him leave," Arron said. "About the same time I noticed Emily was gone."

"Uh-oh," Sparky muttered. With everyone looking at him he admitted, "I kinda let it slip that Lance stopping Jack was Emily's idea."

Knowing what kind of emotion was flowing threw him at the moment Melissa told them, "Find him."

***

Emily wanted to get away from the gathering as fast as possible. This was not what she had in mind when she warned Lance. The guilt was almost overpowering. So deep in thought she almost ran into the person in front of her. Before she was even aware of who it was she instinctively knew it was Jack. There was an anger that was foreign to his eyes while he stared at her. "What did you say to him?", he demanded.

"This outcome was not my intention child," she tried to tell him.

"What did you say to him?", he repeated a little more forcibly

Sighing a bit she answered, "That you were not ready to face Mitchell alone."

"You said I was supposed to be their champion," he snapped. "How can I do that if you don't think I can protect them?"

"It wasn't a lack of faith in you…," she started to tell him but he cut her off.

"Then what was it?! What was so dangerous about that situation that I couldn't handle it? What was it about because Lance is dead because of it?!"

"I didn't send Lance to die," she told him, almost shouting. "I was expecting him to face Mitchell with you not to take him on by himself. You are too important to us to lose. Lance knew that. You will be ready to face Mitchell in time. Please believe me, I had your best interest in mind." She reached out to him but he backed away.

He hurt her more than he would ever realize by saying, "I guess you can't see everything then huh?". Walking past her he added, "You still put the idea in his head and I don't think my best interest is you had in mind."

Melissa and Arron came around the corner. "Jack wait a moment," she grabbed his arm. He pulled away and kept on walking. Then Melissa went to her, "Emily are all right? Jack didn't saying anything did he?"

"It was nothing I didn't deserve," she told her and walked away in the other direction. She knew he was right, she did have more than his best interest at heart.

***

It had been a week since Mitchell had put down that rebel and no sight of Jack any where. He was more than ready to take another crack at him but apparently Jack decided to go into hiding. So this group of rebels that he, Perez and an assault team had surrounded and ready to take down would have to do. Sucks to be them. "Transform!", he shouted as Perez gave to go sign. Breaking away from the group he zeroed in on a blue dragonfly. Oh the irony. Although part of him did feel sorry for the poor bastard, but not by much. Landing a solid punch to his face the Drakan crumpled to the ground. "Get up!", he shouted at the Drakan in frustration. A red hand grabbed his shoulder. Mitchell didn't care what it was as he turned around and clocked it.

Around him the men were containing what rebels they could. Double and triple teaming where they had to. So that left several Drakan more or less free. That just meant there was more for him to pound. He picked the closest one and went to work. Red, blue he didn't care what color it was just as long as it was a Drakan in his way. He caught glimpse of a green bee trying to get away and knocking down a few of the men in the process. He just went to the top of the list. An overweight blue grizzly bear tried to get in his way. After a brief tussle Mitchell was able to snap his neck and continued after his target. The moment he got to him the dragonfly got back in his face. Now it decided to put up a fight? In fact it fought a little like Jack. Maybe with a little more control and a little more technique but there was a strong resemblance. Picturing Jack in his mind he broke the Drakan defenses and quickly pounded him into the ground. The bee threw him off and dragged the dragonfly with him. Mitchell got to a knee and watched them for a moment then at the meter. "Run, run as fast as you can," he mumbled, smiling behind the helmet. Chasing after them he twisted the right pod up and the left pod down. Catching up he punched the dragonfly in the side of the head and the bee kicked the bee in the ribs.

As they both recoiled from the impact of the charge and exploded Mitchell stood there. Did Jack ever enjoy the feeling of power the system gave him? Did he ever get lost in the fear in their eyes when they saw him? Probably not, he was too busy feeling sorry for himself or some crap. Turning back to the conflict behind him he saw a couple of the Drakan were still fighting. "The fun's not over yet."

***

Anderson read over the mission report of the strike last night. For the most part things went according to plan. The rebels were captured and were currently being interrogated. Those that were captured alive that is. There were three unexpected causalities from the raid, and one man was responsible. That man was currently standing in front of his desk. "Mitchell," he said leaning back in his chair, "I realize that in combat plans can change on a moments notice depending on the situation. But I did give specific instructions that the leader of this particular group of rebels was to be brought in alive."

"I realize that sir," he said, "but I wasn't sure which one was the leader."

"The reports said there was a green Drakan in their midst."

"That wouldn't necessarily make him the leader," Mitchell countered. "If they are trying to live up to that all classes are equal crap then chance are the green Drakan was following orders from somebody else."

He hated to admit it but Mitchell had a point. It was hard to imagine a green taking orders from a lower class, but the rebels were obviously doing just that. It made him sick. But there was still a question left, "Then how do you explain that the ones we captured are claiming the Drakan Killer murdered their leader?"

"Well there was the bear and the dragonfly," Mitchell looked almost casual as he thought it over. "The bee looked like he was trying to get the dragonfly out of there so it could have been him."

"And yet he's dead," he reminded him. Mitchell just shrugged his shoulders. Anderson raised an eyebrow slightly. "Despite the fact we lost the leader we did get a majority of the group. So I would say mission accomplished. Let Perez and the other know I said good job."

"Right away," Mitchell gave him a quick salute. "I'm sure they'll be happy to hear it," and with that he left.

"Quite," Anderson responded as the door closed. There was no doubt about it in his eyes, there was something different about Mitchell. Ever since Davidson got the best of him that one time there was something in his eyes. He had known this particular human for years and he had never seen that particular look in his eyes before. No, he did see that look before, when Davidson paralyzed him. The fact he actually lost to Davidson. That ate at him for those first few days while he was waiting to be bonded to the mark two. Now that he had the superior system Davidson still found a way to outsmart him, it was eating at him even more. Anderson could see it. He would have to tell Perez, secretly of course, to keep a close eye on him. The last thing they needed was for Mitchell to become a loose cannon. He could become a bigger threat than Davidson ever was.

***

Rachel spent the next week trying to play peacemaker. After the ceremony for Lance Jack and Melissa started shouting at each other. All over how Jack was talking to Emily. Things got so heated he went so far as to dare her to throw him out after she brought up the leash he was apparently on. As much as she wanted to take a side she saw both of their arguments. It was Lance's choice to do what he did, but would he had made it if Emily didn't say anything. Although this champion thing Jack kept bringing up was new to her.

So they spent most of the next week avoiding each other as much as possible. Melissa more or less threw herself into her duties. Jack pretty much increased his training time, sometimes with Sparky, Arron or that Jamie guy. But mostly he trained alone. Well not alone, she stood by and watched him. Just wanting to be there incase he wanted to talk.

And eventually he did, going so far as to explain this whole champion thing. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Lance said he had an idea but he wouldn't say anything. He told me it was something I figure out on my own."

"How come you never told me about it before now?", she asked.

Dropping his head a bit he answered, "Because I'm still not sure if I even believe it. How can I be anybody champion if I don't think I have it in me?"

"It might be one of those 'the person who doesn't want it is the person who deserves it' type of things," she offered. It didn't look like he was buying it. She thought it was kind of lame too but it was all she had at the moment. "I wish I had something better for you but I don't. I just wish you told me about this sooner. We could have figured it out by now."

"I don't know, maybe," he said. After a moment he went, "Rachel, am I really that different when I think I have a purpose?"

"Who told you that?"

"Lance did during our last training session."

"Oh," that caught her off guard. "I wouldn't say different. More focused than you usually are maybe. Not that you lose focus." She smiled a bit, "Well there was that first time you activated the system and you stopped what you were doing when you saw what you look liked."

"I wasn't expecting to look like a bug," he said quickly. Apparently finished training for the day Jack took a quick shower while she waited. As hard as she tried she couldn't make heads or tails of this champion thing they put on him either. It wasn't exactly a role she could see him in. Then again there were moments… No, she was thinking about it too much. Jack came out of the shower room with his jacket slung over his shoulder saying, "Want to get some dinner?"

"I'd love to," she replied. On the way to the cafeteria Melissa came around the corner. "Play nice," she warned him. He grunted in response. Melissa looked unsure too but came toward them. Something about the way she was looking told Rachel this wasn't going to be good news.

"We just got word Mitchell and an assault team attacked one of the smaller cells last night." Jack turned away swearing. "A couple were able to get away and Lan…," she corrected herself, "Jamie's cell took them in. But from the sound of things Mitchell is living up to the Drakan Killer legend."

"We have got to stop him," Jack said, "and now."

"But how?", Rachel asked. "We never know where he is until he shows up or finds a way to pull your strings."

"Then we pull his strings for a change," Jack told her. "We fight him on our terms."

"And how do we do that?", Melissa asked. "They can cover things pretty good if you haven't noticed."

Jack thought it over for a bit, "The old habitat."

"They'll have the place guarded," Melissa argued. "The moment we get there they'll be on us."

"Yeah but they had it for what a couple of months?", he countered. "You guys were living there for years. You know the ins and outs of that place better than they ever will."

"They'll have some sort of alarm in place at the entrances," Rachel said. A group of kids ran by. Jack gave her a particular look and she remembered the whole incident with Jennifer. "But maybe they don't know all the ways in and out of it."

"But how do you get Mitchell there?", Melissa asked. "As much as I want to take Mitchell down I am not going to risk Freidman's safety."

"Neither do I," Jack admitted. "We got to iron out this part of the plan and fast before Mitchell decides to go hunting again."

An idea came to Rachel. It was so absurd she almost didn't say anything. But it was a long shot and it was the only idea she had. "I wonder if they still have that phone he took from me?"

***

Anderson met Mitchell on the way to R&D. He looked as surprised as he was when Armstrong called him in. When they got here Armstrong and his workers where hovering around an ordinary looking cell phone. "Why are they using it now?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Armstrong replied. "I as so positive they were going to drop it from their system I forgot we had it until it started ringing. We're ready to trace it but I doubt he's dumb enough to do it anywhere near their current hideout."

"Did he say when he'll call back?"

"Should be any time now." After a few seconds it started beeping. Armstrong answered it and quickly attached it to a speaker.

"Hello?", Davidson voice came through. He saw Mitchell tense up slightly. "Hello? Seriously you guys are eating up my minutes here."

"Mr. Davidson," Anderson said. "It's a pleasure to hear from you again."

"Oh it's you," he sounded a little disappointed. "Is Mitchell any where close?"

"Right here buddy," Mitchell answered.

"What, am I on speaker? Hey, did Tim ever get a life? I was wondering about that the other day."

"Some how I doubt you took the trouble in calling in just to play catch up. And didn't you take quite a risk in calling this phone? How would you have known if we didn't dismantle it?"

"It was either this or tie a note to a rock and chuck it through a window. To be honest the rock sounded like more fun but they insisted I try the phone first." Any doubts he had this was actually Davidson were quickly put to rest.

"What do you want Jack?", Mitchell demanded.

"I want to finish it," he told them. "Just you and me, no backup and no BS."

"Just say when and where Jack."

"The place you ran the group of rebels I'm with out of," he answered. "As for when, how fast can you get there?"

"Faster than you think 'buddy'," Mitchell sneered.

"I'll be waiting." The call ended before anybody could say anything else. Anderson looked over to Mitchell, he looked like he already won.

"He's trying o get me on what he thinks is going to be home field advantage for him. I'm going to show him how wrong he actually is," Mitchell looked way too pleased with the situation.

"So are you going alone?", Anderson inquired.

"Of course not," he said with a smirk. "Do you think I believe that no back up no BS crap? His friends are going to be there because they know he can't beat me one on one. That's why that one sacrificed himself the last time. I'll bring a couple of teams with to take care of them. Then Jack is all mine."

"I want Davidson alive," Anderson told him. Mitchell protested and after a few moments of that he simply said, "Just think of what it will be like for Davidson behind bars. Knowing he can't get out. Knowing if his friends try to rescue him they will be right there next to him." That appeared to appeal to him. More than likely the idea of being able to taunt Davidson for his failure being the biggest draw. Despite his concern for his mental state, Anderson still knew how to appeal to his human ego.

***

"He's here," Arron announced as he came through the tunnel. It was connected to an old factory, and it was so small a child had to hunch over to navigate it but they got back into the old habitat. It was really strange to see something most of them still considered home so quiet and empty. Too bad it wouldn't be quiet for long. They had a small group, just large enough to cause a distraction if needed. Of course the one person who wanted to be wasn't. Luckily Melissa agreed with Jack about the danger and forced Rachel to stay behind. He was going to have to find a way to make up to her later. If there was a later.

Do not be thinking like that. "I called him twenty minutes ago," Jack exclaimed. "Either he booked it here or this place was closer to Anderson than I thought."

"A little bit from column A and a little bit from column B," Sparky joked.

"He'd bring company with him?", Jack asked.

"Was there any doubt?", Arron asked in return. "We're set to go in here and Jamie has his group outside ready to sandwich them as soon as they get inside."

"Right," Jack nodded. "Remember, make sure Mitchell gets to me and nobody else. I'm going to have a hard enough time as it is without any extra surprises."

"You still haven't told us how you're going to get Mitchell to come to you," Arron said.

All he said was, "I got an idea how."

"You're going to do something stupid, aren't you?", Sparky quipped.

"Yup," he told them as he walked away. As soon as he turned the corner and was out of sight he reached up and pulled back the foil lined hood covering his head.

***

"What do you mean he's inside?!", Mitchell demanded. Anderson had guards and cameras on this place the moment they capture it. None of the surveillance teams had seen anything and none of the sensors had been tripped.

"The signal from his tracking chip just popped up a few moments ago," Perez told him. "It took a few moments for the guys to recognize it as Davidson's signal. He's in there and he's going deeper inside."

"They must have had a few entrances we didn't know about," he muttered. "I'm taking a team inside," he told Perez as he went into the van and took one of the handheld scanners. It picked up his and Jacks' signal as soon as he turned it on. "Keep an eye on things out here just in case there are any other surprises."

"I'll get a hold of HQ and let them know what's going on." Mitchell said nothing as he rushed in. Studying the scanner he could tell Jack was still on the move. They didn't get far before they heard fighting going on outside. He paused to look back, but only for a moment. His only concern was Jack. Every so often he would motion for some of his men to split off and take a hallway. Again it wasn't long before he heard some conflict behind him but he stayed his course. It wasn't long before he was actually alone but he had Jack's location, he finally stopped moving and he quickened his pace. Not even looking for traps he followed a particular hallway. He started hearing water and his nose was assaulted by the smell of rotting vegetables. He kept on going and found Jack standing in the middle of what looked like a farm, or an attempt at one.

"It took you long enough," he said.

"It's a pretty out of the way place," Mitchell said as he dropped the scanner. "So why did you pick this hole any way?"

"I don't really know," he said looking around. "I could say it was because it is a pretty isolated place with only one way in or out. But this is also where I started to find myself again." He looked over to a particular hole in the ground, "It's where I started helping something live instead of die."

"Touching," Mitchell snorted, "doesn't mean anything to be but touching." Neither said anything for a moment then both of them moved at once. Jack got his left arm across his chest. Mitchell got his left arm up and bent, "Transform!"

***

"Henshin!", Jack slammed his right hand on top of the belt. The armor formed around both of them as they ran. Both threw a punch that connected with the other jaw. Mitchell took a step back from the impact but Jack took several steps back. Some of the training started to pay as he was able to keep up with Mitchell's attacks. Mitchell may have been faster but he was better at avoiding some of it. Unfortunately a few of his strikes got through, a knee to the gut in particular dropped Jack to a knee, but he popped back up with and uppercut that caught Mitchell flush. He jumped up a bit and surprised him with an elbow strike on the way down. He swung his leg for a kick, Mitchell ducked it then caught Jack in the side with a kick of his own. He grunted in pain but tried to make sure he didn't leave himself open for anything else. That was something Lance drilled into his head over and over.

Mitchell did just that going at him full force. Jack was forced to back up from the assault as he kept up his guard. Seeing an opening he threw a punch that Mitchell caught, again. Thinking quickly he pushed foreword a bit to make Mitchell push back. Falling back suddenly he got his foot up as the other man came foreword and flipped Mitchell over. Both of them got to their feet and Jack struck first with a right cross. He went for another one that Mitchell caught and threw him. Jack twisted in the air and landed on his feet. Grabbing Mitchell by the back of the head he started throwing knees. Mitchell quickly broke the hold and in matter of moments had him on the ground. He stood there looking at him instead of following up, "What the hell got into you?"

"When you think you have a purpose you're a totally different person," those words of Lance ran through his head as he got to a knee.

"I don't know," Jack grunted, "but I think I like it." He jumped foreword without warning, caught Mitchell around the waist and charged foreword yelling. Slamming him against the wall Jack backed away just enough to start pounding away at him with everything he had. Mitchell got his hands up and pushed him away. Jack fell and rolled backwards to his feet and ran in again. Using the wall to jump up he slammed his knee into Mitchell's face. His head was forced into the wall behind him cracking it. Falling back Jack grabbed onto his head to make sure Mitchell face slammed into his knee again on the way down. While Mitchell was still stunned Jack pushed him to his back and got on top of him and pounded away at his head.

The meter started flashing but he held off on grabbing the pod. He had an idea that hit him a few days ago, try and overload that redirecting system he had. It was a slim chance but it was still all he had. He got rocked by a straight punch to the face that got through his attack. Jack was stunned just long enough for Mitchell to push him off and throw him into retaining pond by the field. Jack heard a click as he got up and saw Mitchell's reflection come up behind him. Rolling out of the way Mitchell's fist hit the water. There was an explosion almost immediately as Mitchell pulled away with a smoking hand and shouted in pain, "Goddamn it!"

Jack went on the attack almost immediately, it was now or never if he was going to take him down. Mitchell fought back despite the handicap as the fight disintegrated into a slugfest. They pounded away at each other for several minutes. Both men had tunnel vision as they saw nothing but each other. Mitchell spun around and kicked him in the head. Then he did it again and again and again making Jack drop his guard and fall backwards. He used the wall he fell against to get up in pain, but not from the assault. The inside of his gut was hurting as the meter was almost one continuous flash. Now or never. Mitchell came at him at a run. Jack got out of the way, gritted his teeth and twisted the pod down. Electrical arcs traveled down the outside of the armor as he clutched at his leg. He was cooking the inside of his leg again but it was his only his only chance. Jack turned slightly as Mitchell whipped around and pinned him to the wall with a kick at the waist. His foot was on the faceplate of the belt as the full charge hit it. Mitchell was covered in electricity as the turbines started spinning. He grabbed Jack by the back of the head and threw him against the wall as little arcs of electricity danced around his helmet. He slumped to the ground feeling like something in his head was on fire.

Mitchell stumbled foreword holding his gut as his armor went back to normal. Jack lay against the wall totally helpless as Mitchell faced him. "You thought that would work huh?!", he taunted. "You luck just ran out. I don't care what Anderson wants you're dead!" He twisted the right pod down. There was a brief whirling sound right before the belt started to spark. Mitchell looked down and saw some of the cracked faceplate fall off. The visible turbine looked damaged and barely moving, like it was stuck in place. He backed away as his belt started to spark more violently. He looked at Jack and shouted, "You lucky son of a bitch!", right before the belt exploded and various parts of his armor erupted in sparks as he fell to the ground.

Jack watched him, barely able to move. Mitchell wasn't getting back up, he was just smoking there on the ground. It took him a bit to realize he actually won. He tried to get back up but he couldn't move. OK, he was just tired and needed a moment. But nothing was moving when he was trying to deactivate the armor. His fingers were barely twitching on his hand. If his head would stop killing him maybe he could figure this out. Wait a second… that burning sensation in his head. He started to have a hard time breathing. Oh God… the chip in his head…

Rachel…


	45. Chapter 45

Episode 45

He felt himself floating. He had no idea which way was up or down. All he knew he was in some blue stuff that was slowing his movements slightly. His hand hit something metallic. His eyes opened wide as memories flooded his head. He had to get out of there and he had to get out of there now. Thrashing around a bit he felt wire attached him that he quickly pulled off. Reaching out toward the light in front of him he found a barrier blocking his way. He started pounding away with all he had, he had to get out of there. Shadows suddenly hovered in front of him. He stopped pounding and tried to get away from them. Another barrier behind him blocked any chance of escape. The barrier in front of him lifted away and several hands started reaching for him. He resisted as hard as he could but the got a grip on him and hauled him toward the light.

He hit cold air almost immediately. He heard a jumble of voices and tried to yell at them but something nasty spilled out of his mouth instead. He still struggled as they got him out of the goop he was floating in. There was only one group who could have brought him back and he would be damned if he was going to let them have him without a fight. He almost broke away but somebody grabbed him from behind. A voice with a familiar drawl spoke into his ear, "Easy son easy."

"Dusty?", Jack coughed. He wasn't sure what was going on but he gripped the old man's arm with all he had. He tried to focus his eyes but everything was still one big blur, "I can't see!"

"It's ok son," he tried to calm him down. "You opened your eyes in that goop and it affected them." He felt somebody else grab him and heard Dusty say, "Help me get him on the table." Jack let them guide him to the table and help him get on it. As he sat there somebody wrapped a blanket around him that he closed around his frame. "Your sight should clear up soon. You gave us one hell of a scare son. And waking up ahead of schedule isn't doing this old man's ticker any favors either."

"You never were any good at keeping a schedule," another familiar voice said.

"Rachel," he reached out for her. She gripped his hand tightly. "You playing nurse again?", he joked.

"No that was me and Sparky," a third voice he recognized as Freidman said.

"I was an assistant, not a nurse," Sparky protested. "Arron was a nurse when it was his shift."

Like Dusty said his vision was slowly getting better. Now he could make out man shape blurs in the big blur he was seeing. "How did you bring me back? The chip in my head was fried."

"It was on the fritz son not fried," Dusty told him. "It was flickering on and off but it let enough juice through that it kept you alive until they got you here."

"But the chip…"

"We took it out son."

"I thought you said you couldn't bypass it unless you were at World Inc.?", he started to get an uneasy feeling about this.

"We had to improvise," Freidman said. "Unfortunately with Mitchell at hand as the only thing compatible we had to cannibalize his…"

Jack blinked a few times and stared at the blob he thought said that, "You ate him?"

After an uncomfortable moment of silence Dusty said, "I'm going to put that down to the fact he's still a little groggy."

Rachel squeezed his hand, "He means they used him for spare parts."

Tightening the blanket around him he said, "One of those ideas is a little more disgusting than the other, I'm just not sure which."

"Any way we had to implant Mitchell's chip into your head," Dusty went on to explain. "I think I modified it enough but you'll probably want to still wear the foil in that hood just in case."

"I hope you don't mind Jack," Freidman spoke up again, "But when we replaced the chip we noticed the old one shorting out damaged some of your other systems. We were able to use some of Mitchell's system to replace them, but I'm not sure how it's going to affect you."

"How long was I out this time?"

"All in good time son," Dusty told him.

"How long?", he demanded.

"Another six months," Rachel said.

"I spent over a year floating in goop," he said to nobody in particular.

"Maybe we should give Jack some time to take all of this in," Dusty said.

"Well be in the next room Jack," Rachel patted his hand and let go of it.

"Rachel could you stay for a moment?"

"Sure Jack, what is it?", she asked.

"I know this is going to sound a little weird," he started, "but I could really use a warm body next to me right now."

"No problem," she said. Jumping on the bed she sat next to him. He waved his hand in front of his face as his vision started to clear. He was right he was in Dusty operating room. Out of no where Rachel wrapped her arms around him, "Thank God you're all right!"

Reaching up he patted her arm, "I'm kinda happy about it too." Finally his vision cleared that he could almost see normally. Rachel still didn't let him go. Tell her before you lose your nerve. "Rachel I h…" he looked at her and stopped. Her hair which did go past her shoulder was now hanging above her neck and styled differently. "When did you cut your hair?"

She blushed a bit, "Melissa dragged Angie up here last week and talked me into it. She told me the change would do me good. I hate it personally and can't wait for it to grow back out."

"It... it looks good," he said more or less automatically.

"Now you're just being nice," she said with a smile. "I'll go find your clothes, I know Dusty washed them while you were out. You're probably freezing." She hopped off the table and went into the next room to talk to Dusty. The things you get lost on when you're out half a year.

***

Although she was glad he was finally coming home Melissa was still a little apprehensive. She wasn't sure how Jack was going to react when he saw her, or more importantly Emily. They may have gotten over things in the past six months but Jack, more or less, was still there in his head. Either way you look at it things could get a little uncomfortable. It was probably why Emily decided to stay in her room right about now. Well they couldn't put it off forever, and this way she could judge how he was going to react.

Looking down the way to the garage she saw Rachel and Jack enter. Everybody else noticed them a moment later. She felt the mixed emotions coming from the group around the same time. Most either didn't or were pretending they didn't care. The rest were happy to see him and weren't ashamed to show it. While a few came up to him Jack looked like he was looking for somebody in particular. Melissa finally decided to walk over to him when he found who he was searching for. He broke through the crowd and walked over to little Jennifer. "Hey kid you're getting big." He kneeled down and handed her bear Polly back to her. "I'm happy Polly gave me some company while I was out, but I think she's really happy to come back to you." Jennifer grabbed bear and gave it and him a big hug. "See you around kid," he said as she went off.

"Well somebody's in good spirits," Melissa said. She saw Jack tense up a bit, yeah he was still there alright.

"I'm still walking so why wouldn't I be?", he said. Well, at least he was trying to act like he wasn't still sore about what happened. Rachel was watching him intently as well. "So what have I missed since I've been out?"

"Jack there's plenty of time for that," Melissa told him.

"I know Anderson had to be pissed I was able to take out Mitchell," he said. "So what happened?"

Eventually Melissa admitted, "There was an initial outburst. A couple of the cells had to relocate. The rest of us more or less went into hiding. None of us had seen anything like it. The closest anybody could match it with was Anderson's original push against us. Things have calmed down a bit but we're still a little on edge. But that's the least of our worries."

"What could be worse?" Jack started to look worried, "Did something happened to my mom?"

"No she's fine," Rachel assured him. "I would have told you that first thing. You," she looked over toward Melissa then answered any way, "got outed."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he told her.

"The other cells know about you now," Melissa said. "Dusty was working on somebody when they brought you in. You were still in your armor and they couldn't make up anything to cover it."

Jack looked guilty after he heard that, "How much trouble did I cause you?"

"Outside of Jaime nobody would have anything to do with us. Officially that is. Behind the scenes a couple of them asked me what in the hell I was thinking. Things aren't so bad now, thanks to Jaime and a couple of the others we're on talking terms at least. But they still don't understand why I decided to house the Drakan Killer after what happened."

"She even told them Emily's vision was the main reason why and they still refused to understand," Rachel added. "I even tried talking to them to explain what was going on, but I don't think my word goes a long way."

"You talked to the other cells?", Jack said in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind?"

"I made sure they talked to her here," Melissa assured him."It was the only time we got her away from Dusty's while you were healing up. Outside of that she never left your side."

"That's a real bad habit you're falling into," Jack told her. "People are going to think you don't have a life or something."

"I had noting better to do," she told him. "I hate to run but I told Amber I'd help out with the French lesson again as soon as I got back." With that she left the both of them alone. This could get awkward.

Jack watched Rachel leave before he said, "She says her new do was your idea."

Melissa smiled a bit, she knew he could be dense but he would have to be blind not to notice it. "It looked like she was ready for a change. So what do you think?" He didn't answer right away, then again he didn't have to. "You don't like it?"

He quickly said, "I didn't say that."

"No but you were feeling it." Crossing her arms Melissa narrowed her eyes a bit, "Please tell me you're not one of those guys who think women should only have long hair."

"What… no," he was telling the truth, he was lucky. "I've seen some women who looked absolutely smoking with short hair. Rachel…," he trailed off. "It's not a big deal, I'll get used to it." Without another word he walked away.

"Not one of my best plans to get one of them to admit it," Melissa said to herself. Hell if Jack was a different type of guy that could have backfired. Then she would've been forced to hurt him.

***

The class went smoother than she thought it would. She was a little worried since it was a larger class than she was expecting. But it went like they always did. After talking with Arron for a bit she started looking for Jack. He wasn't in his usual haunts so that just left one more place. Opening the door to their room she found him sitting on his cot studying his arm. "They did a pretty good job," she said. "I doubt you can tell where they cut into you."

"Here, here and here," he quickly pointed out two spots on his forearm and one on the back of his hand. "I've been living with these for a long time now. I should know when there some new ones or not."

Not sure what else to say she attempted to joke, "I didn't want you to worry about your warranty."

It was a lame one but he smiled anyway, "I think Anderson voided that out a long time ago. Who's been taking care of my plant since you've been with me?"

"Emily volunteered," she said. Rachel watched him. While Angie was cutting her hair Melissa and her talked about what to do about Jack and Emily. They weren't on the best of terms before he had his final fight with Mitchell. They both agreed to stay out of it for the moment and let them work it out.

"I'm going to have to remember to thank her," he said, "eventually."

"I'm sure you have time for that," she said. Sitting next to him she added, "So how are you holding up?"

"I've spent over a year in goop," he said. "That's time I'm not getting back."

"You haven't missed much," Rachel told him. "But I'm betting a couple of those cells were wishing that had you watching their back after Anderson came after them."

"I missed more than that. Things changed in that time. They always do, and I'm stuck playing catch up for a week, if I'm lucky."

"I'll help you out," Rachel told him, "you'll be caught up in three days tops." He laughed a bit. "Come on," she said getting up and pulling on his arm, "I need to get you to the garage. Dusty setting something up down there that he needs you for."

"What could he want me for?"

"I don't know," she answered, "Arron didn't say."

Grabbing his jacket they walked to the garage. True to her word Rachel told him what she knew about what was going on for the past six months. Of course most of her information was second hand but it was all she had. Getting to the garage she found Dusty as he waved them over. As they got closer they noticed the contraption he had set up on the far wall. A pad was hanging between two poles. Wires from the pad connected it to a series on computers nearby. A line on the ground and a basket of baseball was there as well. "You have got to be kidding me," Jack muttered. Rachel was getting a sense of déjà vu herself.

"Hey there son, little lady," he greeted them. "I thought you might want to throw a few to pass the time."

"Last time I threw a few I got news I didn't like," Jack said. "So how did you come up with this?"

"I remember you and Rachel telling me about it," the old Drakan answered. "I had a good idea of what they used. Harry confirmed most of it." Jack continued to look at it with a dubious look. "Come on son, just one to see if it'll work. You'll make this old man happy."

"The things I do," he mumbled as he took a ball. Like he did back at World Inc. he juggled the ball a few times before throwing it with all he had.

He turned away not wanting to see the results. Rachel saw them and immediately said, "Jack." Turning around he saw the numbers flashing on the screen, ninety-five. Dumbfounded he grabbed another and threw it, ninety-four.

Dusty watched with a smirk on his face, "Never send a technician to do a mechanics job. A little surprise on my part," he told them. "I figured since we were in there anyway replacing and upgrading stuff I figured I'd tweak that ratio thing they were talking about." Turning to Arron he said, "Talking about him like he was a car, if I was that boy I'd been insulted."

Jack said nothing as he stared at his hand. Rachel smiled at him, "Looks like you're going to have to get used to not compensating for everything again."

"That's one thing I'm not going to have a problem getting used to," he said smiling back. "Dusty…"

"No words needed son," Dusty told him. "Just think of it as a welcome back present. And trust me Jack it is good to have you back." Rachel definitely seconded that sentiment.

***

Closing the door behind her Melissa watched Emily tend to her plants. Too be honest she wasn't that surprised when people still told her they haven't seen her all day. "So who's avoiding who in this situation exactly?"

"I think you already know the answer to that child," was her reply. "He still needs time to adjust before we have our confrontation."

"And you used to say Chris had a way to make things sound overly dramatic," she smiled. "I was talking to Jack and Melissa a while ago. He wants to try and talk to the other cell leaders now. I think he wants to convince them we're all on the same side."

"Perhaps he wants to show them the man behind the legend." Finally facing her she asked, "Do you think it's a good idea?"

"Part of me does," she admitted. "The other part thinks it's going to be a disaster in the making. I have to know, is this part of that whole champion thing?"

"I think he's still trying to figure out what it means to him." Turning back to her plants Emily added, "It is a difficult role to define for oneself. But I'm sure he can do it."

She could only nod. "So how long are you planning on staying in here?" she asked.

Emily was quiet for a moment, "When it is time for both of us to speak we will."

"Well that's the closest thing I'm going to get to an answer," she said to herself. Melissa's hand was on the door knob when Emily said something else.

"When you arrange the meeting child perhaps it would be best to keep the fact Jack was the one who wanted a chance to speak to them from them."

Just what she needed, more lies. But she couldn't disagree with Emily's logic. More of them might show up if they didn't know Jack was the one who wanted the meeting. "I'll do it if Jack thinks it's a good idea."

***

Jack wasn't thrilled about the idea but he had to admit it made sense. Rachel suggested they let Jaime in on it to see what he thought. He agreed it was a good idea too. He and Melissa contacted the other cell leader to arrange it. To help sooth things over he suggested someplace neutral. Arron suggested that campsite he and the other kids were using that one time. With that set they all agreed to meet in a couple of days. Jack rode his bike while Melissa, Rachel and then others rode in the van. Like he and Rachel learned that one time, and that seemed like it's been forever, they made the rest of the way on foot. About halfway Melissa stopped them, "Me and Jack should take it from here."

"I think Rachel should come too," he said. "They know her at least."

"True, but I don't think having two people who represented World Inc in the past would be a good idea."

Looking at Rachel Jack said, "Man, getting typecast does suck."

"You'll get used to it," she said plainly. "I know I did."

"I am never gonna live that down."

"Watch the perimeter," Melissa told the others. "They shouldn't be planning anything but you never know." The group told them good luck as they headed off toward the lighted campsite and the other cell leaders. They did talk about him holding back a bit and letting Melissa ease him into the conversation first. But with the winds at their backs they probably already knew he was there. "I see them," Melissa said. Both of them took a deep breath and stepped into the clearing. Nine other cell leaders were staring at them and Jaime was the only friendly face. This might be a long night.

"What in the hell is he doing here?" a red headed woman demanded. At Jaime he said, "You knew about this didn't you?"

"I guess you all know this is Jack Davidson," Melissa started to say.

"You mean the Drakan Killer," another one cut in.

"I answer better to Jack," he said. They kept staring at him, "I get it, you thought I'd be taller."

"Why are you here?", another one asked, this one a bald headed heavy set man.

"I had the idiot notion I convince you were on the same side," he told them. There was no point in beating around the bush now.

"Why should we believe you?", the woman demanded. "You hunted us down and killed us."

"Do you really think I'm proud of that fact?", Jack asked her. "Because I'm not. I'm know I'm not going to be forgiven for what I did back then. And I'm not asking for it either." That caught a couple of them off guard, including Melissa but she nodded in understanding. But a few of them still looked furious.

"Why did you do it then?", the woman demanded.

"I was going on what I was told and what I personally experienced." Melissa took over them telling them about how he came to be like this. Even mentioning the fact they were partially responsible for the birth of the Drakan Killer. That went over about as well as they expected as chaos more or less broke loose. They yelled over the top of each other and barely heard Melissa pleas to calm down so they could discuss it. After several minutes of this Jack let out a sigh and looked around. He was really hoping they weren't going to need Rachel and the others held in getting out of here. One more time he studied the group, and one more time he noticed something was off. One petit woman with brown hair kept fidgeting and looking into the forest. At first he thought she brought some of her crew too. But as much as she was looking around she must have brought the entire cell with her. Looking over to Melissa she was shooting the woman some looks too, and looking worried.

"Are you all right Paula?", she asked.

"What…?", she acted startled. "I'm… I'm fine. I'm just nervous he's here." Jack offered to leave, it seemed like the simplest solution. "NO!", she quickly said. "I mean… I…"

"You were acting nervous before they got here," the red headed woman said with a little suspicion.

She tried to talk but eventually dropped to her knees. "Oh God what did I do?" Jaime and a couple of others looked around as Melissa immediately went to her. "They captured my cell. You have to get out of here."

Sparky ran into the clearing followed by the others yelling, "We got company!" Arron shot through on his bike as spot lights flooded the area. World Inc. Shock Troopers walked out of hiding. All the Drakan dropped their human form, well except for the petit woman, and got into a defensive position. Jack did the movements that activated the system.

"Henshin!", the armor formed around him in moments. He looked back when he realized the cell leaders were staring at him. Those who were seeing him for the first time live had had a mixture of fear, awe and hatred in their eyes. "One problem at a time," he told himself, then he ran toward the closest set of troopers. Tackling a group of them to the ground he quickly popped back up and planted a forearm into one dumb enough to come at him. "You must be a new guy," he commented. Hearing a crack he turned and saw a shock stick coming at him a little too late as it jammed into his side. Gritting his teeth in pain he grabbed the guy by the uniform and threw him. He went further then Jack was expecting. Looks like that upgrade Dusty was talking about increased his strength a bit when he powered up the system, sweet. The group he tackled started to run away so he turned toward the rest of the group who decided to rush the rebels, "Next."

Jack plowed through the troopers getting them off the rebels and buying them some breathing room. He still had no clue about this champion thing, but this had to be part of it. Every so often he caught a glimpse of the woman still kneeling on the ground. She still refused to drop her human form. Her only movement was when she looked up to see a trooper come toward her. Organic looking armor started to form as he changed into a red armadillo. He grabbed her by the neck and held her in the air. Before anybody could stop him he snapped her neck in one quick motion and let her drop to the ground. Feeling a fury he only felt a couple of times before Jack ran through the troopers and bowled the Drakan over. Pounding on the armadillo a trooper got on his back and tried to pry him off. Jack stood and threw him off. The armadillo was able to kick a leg up and hit him in the back to make him fall foreword. The Drakan jumped on his back and started pounding at his head. Muscling out of it Jack quickly turned around and kicked him in the head.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sparky and Arron of other try and head for something while the troopers held them back. Looking in that direction he saw a few of them had Melissa cornered. The armadillo could wait. Getting an idea he ran for the bike and tried not to think what this was going to do to the suspension. Bringing it to life he raced it toward Melissa and through any trooper dumb enough to get in his way. He leaned over and scooped Melissa up and sat her in front of him. He continued speeding off as the green tiger looked back at him, "Are we running away?"

"Not exactly," he said as he turned the bike around. The meter started to flash as he pointed the front tire at the armadillo. "You think you can handle the bike?"

She quickly understood his plan, "You're crazy."

"It helps," he said as he sped foreword. She took the handle bars as he adjusted himself so his left foot was on the seat. He twisted the right pod up. The charge ran up his side and down the outside of his armor focusing in his right fist. When they got close enough to the armadillo he tapped her on the shoulder. She quickly turned the bike to the left and he jumped off. Looking like he was hanging in mid air for a second he launched his fist foreword as he landed. The red Drakan flew back hard, knocking over a couple of shock troops before exploding. Jack looked at his fist. That was the same effect as when he fired his leg those two times but nothing felt fried this time around. Melissa yelled at him and threw him his staff. Grabbing it he snapped it to it's full length and started toward the remaining troopers. Somebody ordered a retreat and those who could got the hell out of there. Waiting a moment he deactivated the systems and turned around. None of the rebel leaders said anything, they just stared at him. Letting out another sigh Jack said, "You're welcome," and walked away.

***

"Are you sure?", Anderson asked. Taylor confirmed the report. They had seen Davidson during that ambush. The men who came back had no doubt about it. Anderson stared out the window and smiled to himeslf. Apparently the rumors of his demise were a tad premature.

***

Jack sat on the ground and looked at the night sky through the grating overhead. Dusty explained to him that when they upgraded his systems they enhanced the shielding around the conduits as well since more power was going to be running through it. "I thought I'd find you here," Rachel said as she walked over and sat next to him. "Melissa still on speaking terms with the other cell leaders from the sound of thing. They're agreeing taking out the armadillo was the right thing to do. And none of them are thinking ill of the woman who told World Inc about the meeting. Melissa said she did it out of fear for her cell and not spite like Trent did. They're still not sure what to make of you though." He grunted in response. "So what's going through your head?", she said with a yawn. "Sorry, it's been a long day."

Looking at his right hand Jack flexed his fingers a few times. "When Emily told me my upcoming battles would forge me into something stronger I assumed she meant mentally."

"It can't be that much of a bad thing," she said. "I mean you don't have that little problem any more so that has to be a good thing." Yawning again she looked a little embarrassed, "I must be more tired than I thought. It must the adrenaline coming down or something."

"I guess so," he agreed, "I know I could crash for a week right about now." She rested her head on his shoulder and watched the stars with him. After a few minutes she was asleep. Jack watched her, remembering the times similar things happened when they were on the run. Taking shelter in anything they could find, from an abandon building to a sewer drain. Even when she was sleeping on the ground he was amazed at how peaceful she looked. Looking so… Looking at her for a long time he softly said, "I love you Rachel."

A moment later she woke up looking embarrassed again, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to doze off like that. You didn't say anything did you?"

They made each other a promise, no more secrets. "Nope, didn't say a word."


	46. Chapter 46

Episode 46

Lunch time was it's usual controlled chaos. Despite her limited insight into human, and Drakan, nature Emily was still surprised at how often somebody wanted to fight over the last bit of whatever they wanted. It must have happened more times than she was aware of seeing how Melissa would catch the eyes of whoever was involved and get them to stop in their tracks. On more than one occasion she heard the child utter, "How did we get so many Alpha males?" Living underground was rough enough as it was, but being in a war at a same time, well she was just grateful emotions didn't explode more often. When they got their food, Melissa always insisted on waiting in line with the others, so much like her brother, the child stop as she saw something, "When did that happen?"

"When did what happen?", Emily asked. Holding both of their trays Melissa gestured as best she could to the other side of the room. Emily looked in that direction and saw Rachel and Jack sitting next to each other. Jack leaned in and said something to Rachel that made her laugh. Emily wasn't seeing anything out of the ordinary. "They always sit together child. They have done so ever since they started living with us."

"I know that," Melissa informed her. "But they always sat across from one another in here. This is the first time I have ever seen them sit next to each other." Watching them a bit longer she started smiling, "You'd almost think they were a couple or something."

"Well don't push them child," Emily told her. "It will happen if it's going to happen."

"I know but the will they or won't they crap is getting on my nerves." Melissa headed over there, "Come on let's see if we can join them." Emily hesitated for a second trying to think of an excuse. "You can't keep avoiding him forever. Look Jack's even been asking about you. I'm getting genuine concern from him when he does. I think he wants to bury the hatchet."

"It's not wise to open old wounds child."

"Emily," she said firmly, "what would you be telling me to do in this situation?"

"I do believe that is what they call dirty pool," she said but she headed over there with her. Rachel smiled as she saw them, as did Jack. Although to be totally honest she was watching for any sign of the anger he showed before his final confrontation with Mitchell.

"I was wondering where they were hiding you," Jack said. "I've been meaning to talk with you."

"No better time than the present," Rachel said. Melissa quickly agreed. Emily eyed the both of them, almost thinking this was a set up. If it was both of them was going to feel her cane.

"I've been thinking a lot about what happened," Jack began. "I'm still angry about what happened, but I think I was more freaked out that somebody died for me more than anything. I'm not used to having that hanging over my head."

"Maybe if I had worded things different Lance would still be with us," Emily admitted

"I think Lance would have done it any way," Melissa said remembering him.

"I can't take back what I said," Jack continued. "We might not have been the closest of friends but I hate to think that ended it."

"I hate to think our friendship ended as well," Emily admitted.

"See," Melissa said, "I told you this wasn't going to be as bad as you thought."

"Fortunately Jack's grown up a bit," Rachel joked. Jack looked in another direction entirely. "Are you actually getting embarrassed? Mark the date down because I never thought I see the day."

"Leave him alone child," Emily told her. "It's hard enough for one to admit their maturing without somebody rubbing it in."

***

Over the next couple of days Jack and Emily talked more and more. Before long things were close to back to normal as they got around here. Which made Melissa's job a little easier without that potential powder keg hanging over their heads. Personally it was great to see Emily back to her old self and not see her watch which way Jack was going. Walking into the common area Jason stormed past her in a huff and then she saw Jack with a satisfied smirk on his face. Yeah things were back to normal alright. "Do I want to know?"

"It would probably be better if you didn't," Rachel said shooting an annoyed glance toward Jack. He tried to look innocent.

"I'll hear about it later more than likely," Melissa sighed. She looked around the room, she was getting something from somewhere she just couldn't place it. She knew she felt this before she just couldn't remember what it was. Jack turned his attention back to a group that was trying to fix this old radio that hadn't worked for awhile.

"I think I almost got it," one of them said. "All we need is an antenna and we should be set."

"I think I saw an old television with some rabbit ears in that closest over there," Rachel offered.

"It's worth a shot, I think I might be able to jury rig something. I'll go get it."

"I'm right here," jack said. "I'll go get it."

He went over to the door as Melissa watched. The moment he put a hand on the doorknob she suddenly realized where the source was coming from. And more importantly what it was. "Jack wait…"

She was too late as he already opened it. Everybody saw him pale. "Whoa!", he quickly slammed the door shut and pressed his back against the wall his eyes as big as saucers.

"Jack what is it?", Rachel asked as she hurried over to him.

Pointing a shaky finger toward the door all he said was, "Old people doing it."

Dusty rushed out of the closest cramming his shirt back into his pants. Closing the door before anybody could see inside he looked at Jack and snapped, "Boy have you ever heard of knocking?!"

"It's a closest, you ever heard of a lock?!" he shot back. He looked Dusty in the eyes then his gaze went south before quickly turning away. Grinding the heel of his hands into his eyes he said, "That's going to give me a whole new set of nightmares."

"Oh grow up son," Dusty said getting defensive. "That was a beautiful act."

"There nothing beautiful about your old wrinkly ass!" Jack walked away saying, "I have to go bleach my eyeballs."

"Would you go talk some sense into that boy," Dusty told Rachel. She muttered something but stayed where she was. In fact everybody was looking at the closest door with some interest. Dusty noticed and got a little huffy, "Don't y'all have anything better to do than just stand there?"

"No not really," somebody answered back.

Looking defeated Dusty opened the door a crack and told the person inside, "You might as well come on out. I don't think these perverts are leaving until you do." Melissa walked foreword and joined the rest as they waited. She knew she should get them out of there, just for the other person's dignity if nothing else. But she was too curious to do anything. Eventually the door opened and the other person came out.

"Emily?" Melissa and Rachel both cried out.

"I have needs too," was her only explanation before walking off. Dusty started to say something before thinking better of it and following her.

Everybody was stunned for a few long moments. Breaking the silence Rachel said, "I have got tot tell his to Jack," and went to find him.

"Emily?", Melissa repeated, still not believing she just saw that.

"It's kind sad those two," the guy working on the radio gestured toward the retreating Dusty and Emily, "are getting more action than those two," he pointed in the direction Jack and Rachel went.

"Don't push them," she said without thinking. But the more she thought about it the more she had to admit, it was really sad.

***

After an awkward couple of hour that whole situation with Emily and Dusty finally blew over. But Rachel still couldn't get that image out of her head, and she didn't even see them. At the moment she found herself without anything to do. Anderson was keeping quiet for some reason, and that maybe everybody a little nervous. They had more than enough people in the garden center at the moment and they really didn't need her. She really didn't feel like hanging out in the cafeteria or the common area. So she headed for her room.

When she got there Jack was sitting on his cot talking on the phone. Rachel knew who it was so she kept quiet while she entered, only waving a greeting when he did. "Yeah Mom everything is fine now. Now when have I ever done anything stupid? I didn't ask for a list." He listened for a few more minutes before saying, "OK Mom, I love you too. Bye." Hanging up he smiled a bit.

"How is she doing?", Rachel asked as she sat on her bed.

"She's doing great," He answered. "She says hello by the way. Thanks for keeping her updated on things while I was out of commission."

"I didn't want to keep her in the dark," Rachel said. "Especially after going through everything to get you back in contact with each other."

"Yeah she still gives me an earful about that every so often." Rachel watched the expression on his face then looked down a bit. Jack noticed looking confused, "Is anything wrong?"

"No, I'm fine," she quickly said. "Why would you ask?"

"You look a little down about something."

"Jack nothing's wrong," she told him, hoping he'd drop it.

"And I've seen that look one too many times in the mirror." He got up and sat next to her on the bed. Putting an arm around her he said, "Come on now, tell you buddy Jack what's the matter."

"It's stupid," was all she said.

"It's not stupid if it's bothering you like this. That no more secrets thing works both ways you know."

Reluctantly she told him, "Sometimes I get a little jealous of you and your Mom."

"Ok I wasn't expecting that one."

"I told you it was stupid." She really wanted to drop the subject but he encouraged her to keep going. "I'm just amazed at how close you and your Mom are. Even after everything you've been through. I thought me and my parents were that close. But I don't think we ever were."

"Have you called them?", he asked. When she didn't reply right away he held out the phone in his hand. "Give them a ring. I'm sure they'd loved to hear from you again."

"I did," she finally admitted, "a little after we got your mom safe. It didn't exactly go like I thought it would." He kept quiet so she could continue. "I got a hold of my Mom. She called me a disgrace to the family. I tried to tell her what was going on. She wouldn't listen, she kept saying innocent people don't run." Her voice started to crack a bit, "She said I was a whore for hanging round a known criminal."

"You should have told me," Jack said holding her close as he tried to comfort her. Out of the blue he said, "Give me their number."

"What?", she asked.

"Give me their number," he repeated. "If you got a way to get a direct line to your mom tell me now 'cause I'm going to give her a piece of my mind. Who in the hell does she think she is talking to you like that?"

"Jack no," she said trying to get the phone out of his hands. He stood up and walked to the other side of the room.

"Is there a memory function on this thing? How long ago was it?"

"Jack just drop it," she told him. "I know my Mother and it would only make things worse."

"Alright I'll do something better then," he started dialing a number. She started to protest but he held up a finger while he held the phone to his ear. "Hey Mom, sorry to call again so soon but I need some help here. I don't want to impose or anything but Rachel having some family problems and it's a little out of my league." Rachel hid her face in her hands from the embarrassment. "Yeah she's right here. Rachel Mom wants to talk to you." She mouthed the word no. "Come on you need to talk to somebody who knows what their talking about." Again she mouthed the word no. "Sorry mom," he sighed, "apparently I jumped the gun, so you can add it to the list."

Looking at her funny he turned around, "Mom I'm not saying that to her. Mom… Mom would you listen… Mom… Mom… Alright." Turning back around he said, "Rachel, Mom said if you don't take this phone right now she's going to come down here, drag you in front of everybody and beat you."

"She wouldn't… would she?" Jack nodded. Thinking it over she held out a hand.

Putting the phone in her hand he told her, "You're lucky she considers you to be like family. Otherwise she would have just hung up on me and not even bother with that threat."

***

How did he let Sparky talk him into this again? That thought raced through Jack's head more than once as he sat in the chair while Angie carefully applied the scar make up to his face. It was more elaborate this time around since Sparky explained his absence as him traveling round and getting into another accident apparently. After his breakdown and his six month goop nap Jack really hoped he was done with the underground racing circuit. But Sparky mentioned they were a little low on hard cash and could use the funds. Trying to convince himself it was all part of the whole champion thing he reluctantly agreed to go another round. Angie stepped back to admire her work, "I don't usually blow my own horn, but this is the best job I've done so far."

"You won't hear me complain," he told her.

"Jack what in the hell is going on?", Rachel demanded as she came into the room.

"I'm just doing a couple of races to get us some money," he said. "I've done it before.

"And what's this crap about an after party?"

"I'll leave you too alone," Angie said.

"Thanks a lot," Jack said as she left the room. "Sparky said this set of races was different. They're only going to give the winners their money if they attend the party. I don't like it either but Sparky said that's how this one was done."

"Then don't go," Rachel told him.

"If they really didn't need the money I wouldn't even think twice about it."

"It's too big a risk," she persisted. "You're still a wanted man, somebody could recognize you."

"I'm going to have Sparky watching my back."

"Then I'm going too," she informed him. Jack stuck a finger in his ear trying to clean it out. There was no way he heard that right and said as much. "If you're going to be an idiot you're going to need all the eyes you got watching your back."

"You're going to go to an underground bike race?", he asked.

Getting a weird look in her eyes as she rethought the things she said, "Maybe I should get Arron to go instead."

"Too late you already volunteered." Jack grabbed her before she could run. "Angie!", he called out. When she came back he pointed right at Rachel, "Slut her up."

***

She had never been so embarrassed in her life, and she was going to make Jack pay if it was the last thing she did. The "outfit", if you could call it that, Angie came up for her was nothing like she usually wore. A pair of leather shorts, stockings, knee high boot, a tight shirt and a vest to go over it. Not once did Jack say they went a little over board with it. She was going to kill him. At least Angie found her a brown haired wig to go along with Jack's blond one. So she could at least pretend she was a different person. She was so going to kill him.

When they got to the races she saw other dressed like she was. So maybe he knew what he was doing. But she was still going to kill him. Jack looked around as he took his helmet off. They both got off the motorcycle as Sparky took a deep breath and took it all in looking totally in his element. "I think we're early for a change, now we can relax a bit before racing."

"Oh joy," Jack deadpanned. "I just want get the money and get the hell out."

"Dude would you chill out, we got this." Sparky patted him on the shoulder as he passed him, "I'll go get you set up. And don't blow any races this time."

"And they're going to ask questions if I win them all," he said to his back. Looking back at her he said, "You're standing out a bit and not in the good way. I know the first time the hardest because of the nerves. But you have got to try and relax and not look quite so guilty."

"I am really uncomfortable right now," she said. "It's bad enough I look like this, I don't need any extra help from you." Not to mention she was cold. Jack tried talking to her, tried cracking a few jokes to get her to relax a bit. It worked a little but she still hated the fact she was dressed like this. They settled into some crowd watching where Jack pointed out a couple of people the "Masked Rider" beat. She barely paid them any attention. On the other hand she was paying very close attention to how some of the other riders were treating the women with them. Especially this one particular act and how Jack reacted to it. She was going to put a stop to this before it even got started. Standing right in front of him with her arms crossed and giving him her sternest look she told him, "You even think about slapping my ass and I will wring your neck."

He looked slightly insulted, "That never crossed my mind thank you very much."

Feeling satisfied she told him, "As long as we understand each other."

Jack walked past her and didn't see the smile cross his face. "But now the thought's in my head."

"What?" Rachel jumped foreword a bit as his hand popped her on the butt. He wisely started running for his life. She quickly gave chase, "You are SO dead!"

Hours later the races were over and everybody moved to this huge mansion where the after party started. Jack ended up being in eight races, winning six and losing two by close margins from where she was. That caused Sparky to drop a few choice words. But she just wanted this night to be over with already. During the party itself a couple of guys tried to get her away from Jack if not feel her up right then and there. Jack immediately put a stop to it, almost getting into a fight a couple of times. After awhile she found an open and empty balcony and decided to hide out there to get away from the chaos inside. "There you are." She turned around and saw Jack join her out there. "What are you doing out here? We got a cover to keep," he put his arms around her but Rachel pushed him away.

"Don't touch me," she said turning around.

"You're still not mad about that little pat on the butt are you?"

"That wasn't a pat Mr. One Sixty fastball." Rachel knew he couldn't do that anymore but damn it she was getting groped tonight and didn't care anymore.

He looked apologetic as he told her, "I held back."

"It still hurt."

Giving her that stupid half grin of his that she missed while he was out he said, "Want me to kiss it and make it better?" She pushed him a bit but ended up smiling back any way. Putting his hand on her hips he pulled her closer. "We're supposed to be a couple, can we at least try and act like it?"

Rachel grabbed his hands and slid them up her sides, "Keep them above the Equator and below the Tropics."

"You're no fun." He said faking a pout. They could hear the music from the party in the background and slowly started to dance in place. Out of the blue Jack said, "It just occurred to me, I think I missed your birthday again

"It's not that important," she told him

"It's the day you were born of course it's important," he told her. "The entire time I've known you and I've only given you half a muffin that you gave me."

"I got the present I really wanted," she said with a smile. He smiled back, maybe that half grin of his wasn't that stupid looking. She looked behind him and she panic a bit and pulled him close so her mouth was by her ear. "I think we're being watched."

"Bald headed guy, tattoo over his right eye and uglier than sin?" She confirmed it was the same guy. "Dude's been eyeballing me all night. I already got my winnings so let's get the hell out of here."

"That's the best idea you ever had." Going back into the house they made their way through the crowd to the first floor and the door. Along the way Jack got Sparky attention as they passed and said they were leaving. Taking longer than either of them would have liked they finally made it outside. Heading to where all the motorcycles were parked they both stopped and looked between them when they realized something was different. When did they start holding hands? Both looked confused and a little embarrassed as Rachel said, "We're staying in character, right?"

"Yeah," Jack quickly agreed. Rachel started to head for his bike again but he held on to her hand. "Wait no… I have to tell you something."

"Jack it can wait until we get back," she told him.

"No I have to tell you now while I still have the nerve. Rachel I…," he wasn't sure where to go. "I've been… I…" Lowering his head a bit he said, "This shouldn't be this hard. I'm really grateful for the friendship we have, in fact you are my best friend and I'm afraid if I say this it's going to ruin it. I've done it before. But I have to say it. Rachel I…", he stopped again. Without any warning he reached up and took the wig off her head. She protested but he wasn't hearing any of it. "It's bad enough I have to look like this while I'm trying to tell you, I need you to look like you." He lowered his head again before taking both her hands, "Rachel I nearly died…"

"Jack," she tried to stop him, but the look in his eyes when he looked up stopped her.

"I nearly died," he repeated. "And the last thought I remember having was about you. How I never told you. How I'd never get a chance to tell you." His head went down again before looking her straight in the eyes, "Rachel I'm in love with you." Rachel's heart nearly stopped. Jack… loved her, actually loved her. Her mind was reeling so much she couldn't speak. "I've been in love with you for a long time now. You don't have to feel the same way. But I had to tell you before I never get another chance to." She wanted her mouth to move, to say what she really wanted to say. But nothing was working the way she wanted it to. A shout of pain that sounded like Sparky's voice caught his attention and he ran for the source. It took Rachel a couple of seconds to get her legs to work so she could follow.

The source was on the other side of the garage. The bald guy she saw watching them stood in front of Sparky while two of his friends held him up while he pounded on him. "Why are you hanging around the Killer?! Why did you bring him here?!"

"Henshin!" Jack activated the system as he ran toward them. Some of the fingers on the bald one's hand fused into flippers as tusks grew out of his mouth as he changed into a blue walrus. Jumping up at the last second Jack smashed his knee into his face. It recoiled from the blow as Jack came in swinging his elbow into the side of it's head. He ran in again and was caught off guard as the walrus bent down and flipped him over it's head. He was surprised again when it jumped up and plopped right down onto his chest a couple of times. As he shakily got to his feet the walrus ran for one of the bikes and took a long length of chain from one of the compartments and started swinging it around. Jack tried to avoid the end being whipped at him as best he could.

Rachel looked around and saw the KR-1000 close by and ran for it. Grabbing the staff from it's holder she ran back. "Jack catch!" she shouted as she threw it. He caught it and snapped it to it's full length. He tried blocking the chain with the staff but the walrus was just too quick with it. Suddenly it ran in and hit him with a shoulder that knocked him up against a wall. The chain came at him again and he got his left arm. It wrapped around his forearm, Jack grabbed it and they both started pulling. Rachel heard a humming in the air right before seeing him pop the electrode on the end. He swung the staff around and nailed part of the wall behind his head with the electrode. With one more pull of the chain he got the walrus staggering foreword, he swung the other end of the staff into the back of the Drakan's head making it stumble foreword more. Part of the wall exploded and a sizeable chunk nailed the walrus between the eyes, stunning it long enough for Jack to unleash a haymaker of a right hook that knocked it out. He turned to the ones holding Sparky, who promptly let him drop to the ground and ran for the hills.

"That was faster than usual," Jack commented as he deactivated his armor. Going to Sparky he asked, "You all right?"

"Am I still pretty?", he asked as Jack helped him back to his feet.

"They can't make you any uglier," he said getting under his arm. "Do you think you can ride your bike back?"

"Give me a little time, I'll be good to go."

"I hope we get that time," Rachel said looking where they went. Sparky looked up and asked where her wig was. "It's a long story." She and Jack looked at each other briefly. Why wasn't her voice coming out of her mouth?

***

When they got back to the habitat Jack tore the wig and makeup off his face almost immediately. Between that, getting Sparky some medical help and telling Melissa what happened he lost track of Rachel. He got back into some normal clothes and headed for their room. He stood in front of their door for a long time silently debating to himself. Finally making up his mind he walked into the room. Rachel was already in bed, and facing the wall. After a bit of waiting he started getting ready for bed himself when she finally said, "What did Melissa have to say about what happened?"

"I think I scored some points back with her when I was able to save Sparky without killing anybody."

"That's good," was all she said. Rachel didn't even turn around to look at him. Jack kicked himself, it looked like he ruined a perfectly good friendship by putting that out there. Getting in his cot he wondered if either Sparky or Arron wanted a roommate. After a few minutes he heard movement and looked over to see her sitting on the edge of her bed. He sat up and faced her. Neither of them said anything before she said, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I was afraid," he told her honestly. "I threw a one sixty two fastball and I was scared that if I ever got lost in the moment I'd accidently hurt you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did that." He looked at the scars on his arms and legs, "I'm not even totally human and you deserve better than this."

"I told you you're the most human person I know," she said.

"I know." They were quiet again for a moment before Jack asked, "So where do we go from here? I can't put this genie back in it's bottle and forget it happened."

Rachel didn't say a word. She got up and walked over to him. Jack watched her wondering how much this was going to hurt. She grabbed his head, leaned in and kissed him. He was stunned but only for a moment before he started kissing her back. Jack gently pulled her down until she was sitting on his lap. He didn't want this moment to end. She finally pulled away resting her forehead on his. She told him, "I'm in love with you too."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I was afraid part of you still saw me as part of World Inc."

"Oh Rachel I'm so sorry," he said holding her tight. "I never wanted you to think that. They are the farthest thing on my mind when I look and think about you." He kissed her again, he'd been wanting this for so long he couldn't believe it was actually happening. If this was a dream he didn't want it to end.

"So what do we do now?"

"This might sound a bit strange," he began. "Considering the position we're in and especially how I don't want to let you go. But maybe we should take things a little slow. I know we've been through a lot but…"

"But you don't want us to rush into anything just yet," Rachel finished for him. He nodded. Caressing his check she said, "I guess we'll know when the time is right."

"Yeah," he agreed. He got off his lap and sat next to him. They stayed there talking for hours, almost until the sun came up. They both told each other they confided in Melissa about how they felt. Neither wanted time to move forward at that moment. They just wanted to stay in this moment for as long as they could. It almost felt like this huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders. A new chapter in their life had started and they didn't care what the future was going to bring. Right now they had what both of them really wanted, each other.


	47. Chapter 47

Episode 47

The day felt like it was taking forever to finish. Jack and Rachel tried not to let anything on while they were out working with the others. Finding a moment here and there to be alone was the only thing that made it bearable. Finally the day was over and they had the evening to themselves, just as long as Sparky, Arron or somebody didn't walk in on them. Good thing Jack knew a pretty good spot when he wanted to be alone. Of course she knew where it was, but Rachel was the only one he didn't mind knowing about it. They sat there looking up through the grating at the darkening sky. It was something hey done before but tonight was different. Rachel snuggled up against him instead of closing the jacket she had around her, "Most people wouldn't think this is the perfect spot for a first date, but I love it," she said.

"Are you kidding?", he asked. "We're underground looking at the through a street grate. All we need is some Barry White playing and a box of wine and this is my ideal date."

Rachel smiled, "You are a very weird person."

"You're just now figuring this out," he smiled back. Giving her a quick kiss he held her tighter," I wish I could've done better for you though."

"I got you right here and right now. That's all I need," she assured him. Biting her lip a bit she went, "Jack, how many times have you tried going past the just friends thing?"

"Let's not go there."

"Come on Jack tell me."

"I might be a bit dense at times but even I know better than to talk about past relationships with the current girlfriend."

"I just want to avoid some of the blunders you made before. I won't think any different of you, I promise," she actually crossed her heart.

Eventually Jack relented, "It happened twice. There was this one time in high school I started dating this girl I liked hanging around with named Amber. Things were cool until she became a tad possessive."

"Define possessive."

"Well if she ever found me talking to a another girl, even if it was somebody we both knew, she would get angry and start claiming I was going to cheat on her or she was trying to steal me away from her. I tried breaking up with her but it took three times before she got the hint."

"I think I would have called her psycho."

"I was trying to be nice," he said. "Then I tried it again with a girl named Mattie. We got along great, we even liked a lot of the same thing that's why we started dating."

"What happened there?"

"It turned out we were too much alike and started to get on each other nerves. Things went to hell in a hand basket before either of us knew it. We didn't talk to each other for a long time after that. We did start talking again and salvaged the friendship but it wasn't the same." Looking out the grating again he said, "She always said she'd sing at either my wedding or my funeral. I wonder if she did."

"Now there's a lovely thought," she said.

"Why do you think I never asked Mom about it? Alright, your turn. Did you ever go beyond just friends?"

"Once," she admitted. "A guy I knew named Greg. Fortunately we both realized we weren't right for each other and broke it off."

"And that's why you're the smart one," he said. "I still wish I could take you someplace better than this."

"We have to make do with what we have," she told him. Getting up she faced him and pulled out an old walkman radio with some ear bud speakers out of her pocket. "Take this for example, I found it in a closest and it still works." Grinning a bit she told him, "Maybe if you're lucky we can work on the Barry White part of your ideal date."

"Works for me," he said standing up. Putting one of the buds in his ear she did the same while looking for a station. After a bit she found a slow song they could dance to. Putting his hands on her sides he raised an eyebrow when she took his hands and slid them down to her waist.

"You're the boyfriend now, you can keep them around the Equator," was all she said.

"I'm liking the perks so far," he said, she smiled in response. After a couple of songs Jack went, "I have to know, when did you know how you felt about me?"

"Honestly I'm not sure," she admitted. "Although when I was watching you float in that tank after Allen broke your arm I was starting to realize my feelings for you were starting to be a little more than professional. I convinced myself it was nothing more than friendship. Then Dusty made that sharing he bed comment. Somebody else was voicing how I feeling and I was never so freaked out in my life."

"You too huh?", he said.

"Your turn."

"I'll be honest, I thought you were hot when I first saw you. Then I got to know you a little better. I was finding I cared about you and wanted to find out more about you."

"Is that why you hung around World Inc. all the time?", she joked.

"Well it definitely wasn't the party atmosphere," he chuckled. "But what really pounded it home," he reached up and traced the faint scar on her neck, "was when you got hurt. I was suddenly picturing my life without you in it and I couldn't stand it the thought of it."

"Well you're stuck with me for the long haul," she told him. "Or until you do something incredibly stupid. Whichever comes first."

"Well I'm due for something incredibly stupid," he joked. Rachel slapped him lightly on the back of the head. Resting her head on his shoulder Jack held her tight while they danced. Then there was a slight buzzing that he couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Rachel reached into a pocket and pulled out a cell phone Melissa gave her. "Don't answer it," he pleaded with her, "don't answer it, don't answer it." She flipped it open, "Oh my God she's answering it."

"It might be important," she told him. "Hello? Yeah I know where Jack is." She held up a finger to keep him quiet. "A meeting in ten minutes? We can be there, bye."

"Oh that sounded real important," he commented as she shut off the phone.

"You never know," she told him. "Besides if it turns out to be a really boring meeting and if, IF you behave yourself I might find a way to make it up to you." She smiled and walked past him. Jack glanced at her butt then at his hand. Almost as if she was reading his mind she spun around and pointed a finger at him, "Don't you even think about it."

"What?"

***

"Alright people listen up," Melissa said to the group. "We got word of something major about Anderson and World Inc. Jaime knows most of it so I'll let him talk."

"Friedman set us on the trail," he said as he stepped toward the map. "Anderson is shipping some major medical equipment and other things, but mostly medical. But it's not going to any of his known warehouses, factories or buildings. As best we can tell he's shipping it in here," he gestured at the forest outside the city. "Apparently this has been going on for a few months now. And we just now found out about it, so we're really behind the curve here."

Melissa said nothing while he talked. There was something different about this room, she just couldn't place it. Positive it wasn't Dusty and Emily this time around she silently glanced around the room. Whatever it was it was coming from the direction Jack and Rachel were. He was sitting on a crate and she was standing next to him, nothing unusual there. But something kept her looking in their direction. Was she leaning toward him a little? Was his hand just squeezing her's? Melissa had to turn away for a moment as she figured it out.

Realizing she was supposed to be talking now she said, "I know it's not much. But when my cousin starts moving a large amount of equipment and nobody knows where it's going my gut says something is up. I wanted to give you guys a heads up before it hits the fan and we're caught with our pants down. So those of you who have contacts in the city keep your ears and eyes open. The rest of you try and make sure rumors don't get out of control down here. This is going to get out and we don't need a widespread panic until we know for certain we know what it is." With the meeting over everybody started to pile out, she needed to get this out in the open first. "Rachel, Jack I need to talk to the two of you."

Rachel turned toward him, "What did you get us into now?"

"Why is it automatically my fault?", he asked.

"Because it's usually is your fault," she shot back. They walked toward her and she remained quiet until the room was empty of everybody else. "So what's up?"

Crossing her arms she just looked at them. Before long she started smiling and said, "It's about damn time you two."

"What are you talking about?", Jack asked.

"Jack it's no use," Rachel told him. "She's going to know before anybody else."

"I know I was just playing the odds," he informed her.

Melissa went on, "I swear I was getting ready to put one of you in a hammerlock until you admitted it. But you're not going to find anybody happier for you two than me right now."

"Would you mind keeping a lid on it for now?", Jack asked her. "We're trying to keep things quiet for the time being. Sparky been making comments like 'get a room' and 'lover's spat' before this. I might be forced to hurt him if finds out."

"He won't hear it from me," she assured him. "Or anybody else for that matter."

"That's one person we don't have to worry about," Rachel said. "Otherwise we'll know who to go to first if it does get out." She looked between them for a moment. "Jack, can we…?"

"I'm guessing some girl talk is about to happen," he said. "You want to meet at the cafeteria later for a late dinner?"

"Love too." He gave her a quick kiss before walking away. Rachel gave him a quick slap on the butt the moment he turned around. When he looked at her all she said was, "Let's see how much you like it."

"I'm not even going to ask," Melissa said. Once they were alone she didn't need her gift to know what was coming. Rachel turned toward her and smacked her on the arm. She couldn't help but laugh, "Ow."

"Why didn't you tell me he was in love with me?", she demanded. "We told you on the same freaking day."

"I could have told him how you felt just as easily," Melissa said rubbing her arm. "And I figured one of you would have broken down and said it before now. I know you two are stubborn but damn. So who broke down first?"

"You hold out on me and you expect me to tell you now?"

"Oh come on Rachel," she pleaded. "You two put me in the middle of this, don't be holding back on me now."

She sighed, "Fine if you must know. Jack said it first I told him later. I might have said it sooner if my friend gave me a hint or two before hand."

"Do you have any idea how many times I implied it when we talked?", Melissa informed her. "I know Jack is pretty dense about this stuff but I'd figured you get the hint before now. So, have you two, let's say, consummated this particular relationship yet?"

Rachel gave her a look but answered anyway, "Jack wants us to wait a bit. I think he wants our first time to be special or something."

"That's… sweet," she said. Turning away and acted like she was looking at something Melissa muttered, "Damn it I'm going to lose the bet."

"What was that?"

"You can't wait I'd bet," Melissa quickly said. Then she winced when she realized what came out of her mouth.

"Ok," Rachel sad slowly. "I'm going to find Angie and see if she burnt that outfit they stuck me in last night yet."

"You sure you don't want to save it for a special night with Jack?" she asked as Rachel headed for the door.

"Don't give him any ideas," she said without turning around.

"Like I need to give him any ideas," she shot back. Alone Melissa started mentally kicking herself. "You can't wait I'd bet? I'm usually better at thinking on my feet than that."

***

R&D was quieter than usual as Anderson walked round. Part of the reason was at least half the staff was relocated to the new complex. As well as most of the equipment and a good chunk of the ongoing projects that used to be housed in the building. It was more of a strategic move than anything. And he had the late Mr. Allen to thank for it. Times like these Anderson felt he didn't give the man enough credit. It was something he had gotten started while the senior Allen was still in power. It only went to the wayside after Davidson killed him. The door open and the person he was waiting for walked in. "Dr. Armstrong," he greeted him, "I assume things are going to your specifications?"

"It's going slower than I'd like," he said. "But ever since we got the entire facility fully powered things are going a lot faster. Although I was surprised you were able to get military support to help us out."

"Oh it wasn't easy," Anderson said. "Rhodes was very hesitant at first to let us use any of the troops under him. When I told him what we could give him he decided to lead the detail himself. In fact he practically insisted on the matter."

"Well you better remind him who's the one in charge," Armstrong told him. "We butted heads a couple of times already."

"You know how these army types are," he chuckled. "Give them an inch and they think they control the entire complex." Sighing when Armstrong wasn't laughing as well he continued, "I'll talk to the good general tomorrow and remind him you are the one on charge of the complex. If that doesn't work I'll head up there and remind him in person."

"It might take just that," Armstrong said. Looking around the half empty room he slowly started shaking his head, "I still don't see how Allen kept that place quiet for this long."

"They say every man is good at least one thing," Anderson mused. "Mr. Allen was apparently extremely good at keeping secrets. He just couldn't handle it when they came out in the open." Both of them stopped when Taylor entered the room.

"We may have a problem," was all he said as he handed over a thick file.

Anderson read through it for a few minutes before looking back up, "Is Mr. Perez sure about this?"

"He tripled check everything before handing me the information."

"Hmm," Anderson muttered before handing the file over to Armstrong. "Apparently the late Mr. Allen isn't the only person good at keeping secrets."

"Harry?", he said in shock. "I've known him ever since he joined the medical wing. I can't believe he'd be a mole. I mean I've seen him at the loading docks going over the inventory list but I've done that too."

"We're about to find out," Anderson said. "Is Dr. Friedman still in the building?"

"It's his day off," Taylor told him.

"Have Perez and his men find him and bring him in for questioning."

***

Rachel and Arron were having a hard time holding Jack back while a couple of others were trying to restrain Jason. "Just give a couple of minutes," Jack begged. "That's all I'm going to need." Although she was glad Dusty was able to fix his strength problem she figured he was going to need it if she did let him go.

"Anytime bug!", Jason spat as they drugged him away from the scene. It took some doing but they were able to do the same with Jack.

When they got to a secluded hallway he broke away from them and kicked a bucket on the floor. "I should have blown his sorry ass up when I had the chance!"

"What set them off this time?" Arron asked.

"They were in ten feet from each other," she said. "I'll calm him down, just make sure we don't get a repeat performance anytime soon."

"I'm on it," he told her.

Jack was still seething as he sat on top of another crate. She sat next to him. "You can't keep doing this Jack. You've been able to get along with just about every Drakan down here but him."

"If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be like this," he told her. Like she needed to be reminded of that.

"And if you weren't like this we never would've met," she countered. He got off the crate and went to the other side of the hall. "You have to make peace with him at some point. He can't be on some imaginary kill list forever you know."

"Fine," he said after a moment. "I'll make peace with him the moment you start saying I had a breakdown."

"I've said that."

"No you said I was having an 'episode'," he made quote marks in the air. "Rachel I love you but do you have any idea how much that annoyed me?" He came back over and grabbed her shoulders, "It's not going to happen to me again if you say it if that's what you're worried about. Just say I broke, I went nuts, I flipped my lid something."

"Jack I can't," she told him. "If I say it I'm going to start thinking about how you were like then and I'm going to start crying again because it tore me up inside." Her eyes started to tear up as thoughts of that time entered her head.

"Ok ok ok," he said quickly while he out his arms around her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push it like that."

"Just because Jason riles you up doesn't mean you can take some of it out on me," she told him.

"I didn't mean to direct it toward you," he said. "You know I'd never do anything to hurt you like that." Rubbing her back he asked, "So was that incredibly stupid or is that still coming?"

"Trust me," she said, "if it was the whole place would now about it. Now never do anything that stupid again." Resting her head on his shoulder she said, "I guess we got that first bump out of the way."

"I guess so." He gave her one last squeeze before letting go. They started to head back for the main area when Sparky just about ran into them. "Whoa, easy there."

"Jack!", he said. "We gotta go. They're after Friedman."

"Who's after Friedman?"

"Anderson's troopers." Before she knew it Jack was already racing around the corner with her and Sparky close behind.

***

This was bad, this was really bad. Friedman called in a few minutes prior saying somebody called him and warned him. His secret was out. He was currently at one of the safe houses but he didn't know if he was able to lose them. Jack remembered how wired Anderson had this city and didn't know if losing them would help. For the first time ever he wished this bike could go faster. He pulled up to the safe house with the van right behind him. "We're clear, move!" he said after looking around and Rachel and the others jumped out. Sparky kept a look out behind them as she ran for the door.

"Dr. Friedman!" she said banging on the door. After what seemed like an eternity it opened and he came out. "Come on," she said pulling him toward the van.

"How much time do you think we have?", he asked looking extremely scared.

"Hopefully more than I think," Jack mumbled. Putting a finger under the helmet he touched the foil lining the inside of his hood. Melissa said they were going to try and deactivate the scanners in the area, but given how fast they had to leave she wasn't sure they were going to be able to fast enough. As it was Jack felt like they were transmitting their location like a lighthouse on a foggy night. "Let's go! The meter's running!"

"My house," he said as they tried to get him into the van. "I still have stuff in my house I wasn't able to get."

"We'll worry about it later," Rachel grunted as she struggled with him.

"All I have is the shirt of my back!" Oh yeah, he was starting to panic big time.

"We'll find you something," Rachel told him.

"I'll let you borrow something of mine," Jack put in when he looked back.

That bad feeling that was attacking his insides got worse when Sparky shouted, "We got company!" All of them looked back and saw a pair of black vans block off the way they came. Jack had every intention of turning the bike around and buying Rachel and the others some time to get away. Then he looked in front of them and saw two more trying to do the same. He activated the laser and started shooting the one directly in front of him. It took a few shots but he was finally able to kill the engine. The driver had to stop sooner than he was planning on before he lost control and the other van kept going.

"There's your opening! Go!", he shouted as he got off the bike. He ran toward the other van as he activated the system, "Henshin!" His speed increased he caught up with the van when the driver realized what happened and tried to throw it in reverse to close the gap. Jumping on the side he forced the door open. "Hey there, how you doing?", Jack said right before throwing him out of the vehicle. Grabbing the wheel he turned the van so the opening would be wider. "What are you waiting for? Go!" Their van finally got going as Jack ran toward the troopers getting out of the back to stop any interference with the fleeing vehicle. Taking care of the one on this side he turned toward the ones on the end of the street. Heading for them he took a moment to punch into the van by the engine. Pulling out some wires and cable he said, "You might want to get that fixed."

Out of the other group a lone figure walked toward him. The trooper changed as a pair of pinchers grew out of his mouth and a red shell formed around him, "You're done Davidson," the stag beetle said.

"Did I mention I hate talkers," Jack grabbed the staff and snapped it to it's full length. One of the troopers tossed the beetle a shock stick. At least he thought it was a shock stick, a spike popped out instead of an electrode. "I hate surprises too, you might want to take a memo." The stag beetle came at him and tried to stab him with the spike. Something told him to avoid it at all cost. Jack used the staff to deflect what blows he couldn't dodge and found himself slowly backing up. Remembering a trick Lance and Jaime showed him he spun out of the way of a hit at his gut and swung the staff behind it's leg. It went down to the ground and he turned the staff around to jab the end into it's chest. It got out of the way and kicked his legs out from under hm. Jack rolled out of the way as the spike impaled the ground.

Dropping the staff he rocked the Drakan with a right then a left. It flipped over him when he went for another right and kicked him in back of the head. Stopping himself from falling he turned around right into a tackle. The stag beetle started pounding his head. Jack was so stunned he didn't fell himself being dragged to his feet before being turned around with another punch. It tried to choke him out by jumping on his back and wrapping it's arms around his head. The armor was giving him just enough protection but he was still feeling it. Dropping to his knees suddenly he was able to surprise it enough to flip the Drakan off of him. Going toward the Drakan it kicked it's leg out catching him under the chin. A spin kicked while he was still dazed sent him the pavement. He felt the staff by his hand and grabbed it as he got to a knee. He looked back as he twisted the dial and saw the Drakan jump at him. Quickly he turned around and jammed the end into the beetle's gut. Squeezing the middle the electrode popped out and sent the entire charge into the Drakan. It was forced back a couple of steps back before exploding.

Then the other troopers started to feel a little brave as they came at him as one. And all of them had the new stick. Jack decided to follow the better part of valor and ran for the bike. Along the way he grabbed the stick the stag beetle dropped and jumped on his bike. "Tell Anderson I said hi," he said right before revving the engine and ran through any trooper dumb enough to get in his way as he got the hell out of there.

***

Over the next couple of days they were able to sneak into Friedman's house, after taking care of the surveillance teams, and get the stuff he needed. Dusty agreed to let him stay at his place as soon as he heard what happened. Rachel, Jack and a few of the others were there to help him move and settle in. As the day went on even Dusty eventually backed off as Rachel figured out where everything should go as they got the boxes out of the trailer. "Hey," he said as Sparky put a box down on a barrel, "that's not supposed to go there."

"Come on man," he whined, "my back is killing me."

Passing by with a bigger box Jack said, "And your front's killing me. You don't hear me complaining about it." After awhile Rachel started wondering around the auto yard lost in memories. Dusty still had that car that looked like her dad's. Jack found her and asked, "What are you doing over here when the work's over there?"

"Just thinking," she said. "I never realized how much this place felt like home until after we left. We should really find a way to visit more than we have. Well more than coming in so Dusty can fix you up."

"Speaking of," he said as he walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist, "we apparently suck at keeping things quiet."

"Dusty figured it out?"

"I'm not sure what gave it away. But he looked at me few minutes ago and I quote," he started mimicking a southern drawl, "Son, it's about time you got it through that hunk of granite you call a head."

"That sounds like him." Rachel started smiling, "But your Cajun accent still stinks."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he quickly said remembering the moment. "At least my drawl is decent according to Dusty."

"He was just showing you some pity," she told him. "Do you think Sparky knows?"

"I wouldn't be hearing the end of it if he did. Then I'd be forced to hurt him. Then I'd be hiding from Angie."

"I'll protect you from her," she said. "Come on, let's head back before somebody else figures it out." Rachel took his hand as they headed back only to let go when they saw Dusty and the others. This was going to be hard but it'd be worth it when they were able to get another moment to be alone.


	48. Chapter 48

Episode 48

With Freidman outed as a mole they had to rely on other means to discover what Anderson was doing. One of the first orders of business was discovering where World Inc. was getting their information from. Back when they had a man on the inside it didn't matter all that much. Now that they were practically blind no one wanted Anderson to have an advantage. The various cells got together and put out some false information. Working in tandem they were able to find, what they hoped at least, a majority of Anderson's informants. From there they squeezed them for any information they had, which wasn't much. Which took them to part two of the operation, surveillance. There they discovered one thing right away. People who worked in the building now had run an ID card to get past the main lobby. And more than likely other parts of the building as well.

Which brought Jack to his current situation. A week of wire tapping and watching lead them to one Marcus Van Haden. He looked liked a college professor who would call you a stupid, blundering idiot even if you did everything right to boot. He also carried important information from his company to World Inc. on a regular basis, usually stopping off at home first. Supposedly tonight was one of those nights. He was currently on his way to World Inc., Jack was heading in the opposite direction with him in his sights.

He had the hood pulled over his head as far as it could go. With the rain currently falling nobody was paying him any attention, fortunate for him. At least the foil lining his hood had an extra benefit, his head was staying dryer than what it would have been. Which was also good for the piece in his ear. He didn't particularly want his ear burning in case it shorted out. "What's you status Tin Man?", Jaime said over the piece.

"Thinking of the ways I can kick the butt of the person who gave me that stupid code name," he answered, low enough so nobody passing by could hear him. "And I'm going to do it too, the moment I can prove it this person did it."

"How are you going to prove it was me?", Rachel asked him over the line.

"There's a start," he quipped.

"Geez Rachel," Sparky cut in, "Don't make it obvious or anything."

"I was trying to throw him off the trail of the person who did it," she quickly explained.

"Cut the chatter," Jaime ordered. "Tin Man do you see the target?"

Looking up the street he saw Van Haden bundled up in a trench coat, an umbrella in one hand and his briefcase the other. "I see him."

"Now that we have that covered," Sparky said, "do we have any idea how exactly we're going to get that briefcase away from him?"

"I'm working on it," was all he said.

"Jack we don't need any work in progress plans right now, "Rachel told him. "We need an actual plan."

"We got a problem," Arron said from his position on the rooftops, "I'm seeing bracelets." As in handcuffs attaching his wrists to the briefcase. There was something good in there alright.

"I see it," Jack said as he continued toward him.

"We have abort," Rachel said.

Jaime spoke next. "I agree. Tin Man turn down an alley. We'll pick you up on the other side of the block." Sparky, who watching him from the rear, reported he was still heading for Van Haden.

"Jack, don't even think about it," Rachel said. "I don't care what you're Uncle showed you, nobody is that good. Do you hear me?"

He kept on walking toward Van Haden. When they were a few yards from each other Jack lowered his head and kept on going, praying this guy wasn't a Drakan or carrying a scanner. Ignoring Rachel and Jaime yelling in his ear he waited for it. Jack bumped into him and kept on walking, not even attempting to go for the briefcase. "Watch it you stupid punk," Van Haden snapped. He checked himself for his wallet, only continuing on when he was satisfied it was still there. "Damn punks have no manners what so ever," he continued grumbling.

Making his way toward the plain blue van, the side door snapped open as Rachel nearly jumped out at him, "Are you out of your mind?!", she demanded. "What if he recognized you or decided to go after you?"

"Or he had a hand scanner with him?", Jaime put in.

"Then he would have known it was me before I even got that close," he said.

"So what was the point of all that any way?", Rachel asked him.

"I was a little curious about how tight that new rule is," he pulled Van Haden ID out of his pocket. They stared at him. "Uncle Pete showed me a lot before Mom found out."

***

Rachel was more than a little nervous. She'd never broken into another person home before. She never did a lot of things before being forced to go on the run. If her parents weren't disappointed in her before they would have been if they found this out. Despite the darkness she could tell Jack was a little jumpy as well, that made her feel a little better. Him reaching out and giving her hand a quick squeeze went a long way in keeping her calm too. Her nerves started jumping up again when the front door started to unlock. Van Haden came in muttering, "I must be going senile. I was positive I had it with me."

Jack waited until the door was closed and he walked a few feet into his house before making his move. From where see was Rachel could see him jab the end of the boomstick into the small of his back, "No lights." Van Haden started to move but he jabbed him again, "You really don't want to do that."

"You're not going to get any money out of me," he said definitely.

"Then it's a good thing we don't want any money." Sparky and Rachel came out of the shadows. Sparky grabbed the briefcase out of his hand. Before Van Haden could protest Rachel cut the cuff with some wire cutters.

"You can't take that," he stated to say. Rachel heard a very faint hum right before Jack squeezed the boomstick. Van Haden jolted for a bit, Arron was there to catch him before he hit the ground.

"Can we go now?", she whispered despite the fact nobody outside could hear her. God her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. Apparently her nervousness was showing in the darkness because she could feel Sparky smile at her.

"First time jitters?", he joked as he took the briefcase.

"Only time jitters," Jack quickly answered for her. They held back a bit as the others headed for the window they came in. "I know, I know I over stepped things when I answered for you. It won't happen again."

"I'll forgive you this one time because I was thinking the same thing." Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek she added, "Next time you won't be so lucky." She went out the window first while Jack looked back to make sure Van Haden was still out. Jumping out the window himself they headed for the van, trying to make sure they didn't look like they were rushing. "Remind me to thank you later going through this before because I have no idea what I'm doing."

"I can't really blame my Uncle here," he said. "Me and Richie used to get into our fair share of trouble."

"Knowing you it was probably more than your fair share," she said with a grin. As soon as they reached the van both of them hurried in and it sped off. "Any luck getting it open."

"Working on it," Sparky grunted as he and Arron argued over what number to use for the combination. She glanced over to Jack looking hopeful.

Reading her mind he said, "Mom caught and stopped us before he went over that. Besides I don't think there are a lot of ways to beat that lock outside a whole lot of patience."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," she said while trying not to look like she was leaning against him as they sat there.

***

Anderson sat there at his desk in a very mixed state. On one hand he was furious that the rebels had gotten a hold of World Inc. property. This was exactly why he didn't want to entrust a human with that type of information. On the other hand he was amazed the rebels were able to pull off that type of operation. They had come a long way since they first started. He would applaud them if they weren't trying to bring down their way of life. Taylor stood before him looking rather anxious at how he was going to react to the news. "Exactly how much can these documents hurt us?"

"We're not sure," he answered hesitantly. "As an extra precaution the document themselves were encoded. This code was created by one of our subsidiaries. So unless they have the key to uncode it should take them awhile to decipher it."

Touching his fingertips together Anderson went, "Why am I sensing a 'but' in this explanation?"

"But," Taylor continued, "the only information encoded in the documents are things that are considered absolutely vital. Information such as timetables and delivery schedules… it depends on what being delivered and where. While the rebels won't know what's being transported…"

"They might be able to figure out where," Anderson finished for him. Taylor flinched a bit as he nodded, expecting him to blow him up. In any other situation he would have. But right now he needed to remain calm. "Depending on how well their network is they may be able to pinpoint their locations before we know it. I want security increased around the shipments. Not so much that they will attract attention, but enough to provide the appropriate support in case it's needed."

"At once sir," Taylor said. "If I may suggest perhaps we should increase the security around the building Van Haden worked at. If they knew about him…"

"They might know about it as well. An excellent suggestion Mr. Taylor, have Perez get some of his men on it. In fact have him increase security around all of our subsidiaries. We're a little too far along to leave a back door open for the rebels now."

"Yes sir." After Taylor left Anderson slowly spun his chair around so he looked out the window behind him. They were in too crucial a spot to get sloppy now. He was going to have the other breathing down his neck as it is once they found out. He smiled to himself, let them come. Once the project was complete he would finally have the army he needed to finish off this rebellion once and for all.

***

She should have been happy they were able to complete the operation with a minimum of violence. Outside of that little stunt Jack pulled it went just about perfect. Now if only they could use the information they were able to get hold of. Melissa felt her migraine grow when they told her half of those papers was written in gobbily gook. Not their exact words but that's what it looked like to her when she looked it over. "Now this is just going overboard," she muttered to herself. Obviously it was a code of some sort so she called the closest thing she had to an expert.

Before her both Jaime and Friedman looked the papers over. Friedman in particular was scratching his head as he tried to read it. "Sorry Melissa," he said putting it down, "but I can't make heads or tails of this thing. We didn't get a whole lot of coded paperwork in the medical wing."

"I figured as much but it was worth a shot," Melissa sighed.

"It's not in any key we know of," Jaime said rubbing his eyes. "Did you run it by Rachel? She might have an idea at how to decode it."

"She already looked it over," she said getting up to stretch a bit. "She was in the same boat as Freidman. I'm halfway tempted to give them to Emily on the slight chance she'd see something."

"I hate to say it but this is where Drake and his group would have come in handy," Jaime said. She nodded in agreement. "Hell I might have gone to Trent if he didn't turn out to be such a bastard."

"Maybe somebody in what's left of their cell has an idea how this was coded," she mused. "Do you know where any of that cell is now?"

"No clue," he admitted. "Shortly after their cell was attacked they disappeared with the wind. Even the couple we were housing disappeared without a trace. Rumors have it they gave up and went into hiding."

"I heard that rumor too," she said sadly. That was a blow they didn't need. She couldn't help but think Chris could have kept them together, but there was no use in thinking like that. What done was done and she'd have to make do with what she had.

"Melissa I think I might have something," Freidman spoke up.

"What is it?", she asked as he laid down a paper highlighting a schedule of some sort.

"It's not much but you said this came from the company uptown?". She nodded. "Do you see this time here, here and here? I'm pretty sure this is the time they deliver things to the main World Inc. building."

"How positive are you?", she asked.

"I say about seventy percent," he admitted.

"That's not as confident as I'd like it to be," Jaime said.

"I know," Freidman said, "but I spent a lot of time in delivery. More than I should of. It might be the thing that finally tipped them off about me."

"We'll I'm desperate enough to take it," Melissa said feeling his pain. "So if this is the World Inc deliveries," she said studying the paper intently looking at the different symbols. "These must be the deliveries to the other locations. We need to watch the other buildings and see which ones corresponds with the ones listed here. Once we figured that out maybe we can figure out how to use that to decode the rest of this." Why did that sound easier than it would actually be?

***

The green queen had them on surveillance duty for a couple of weeks. The human's hunch was correct and they were able to match each coded name to an actual location. Except for one, and that alone made Jason consider this operation a failure. But she continued on anyway with the information they had anyway. In that way she reminded him of her brother, it was sickening. Especially when she decided to focus on a location they already knew about instead of trying to find out where that last location was.

So she went over what she knew with the other cell leaders. Jason still couldn't believe they would still give her any kind of authority after they discovered she was working with the accursed bug. Oh they were angry at first but like a bunch of sheep they bowed down to the almighty green one. Even after she admitted what they discovered didn't help decode the rest of the documents. They didn't even know the exact route the trucks were coming from. God it made his sick to his stomach. But still they were able to use what they had to plan their next target. A small compound on the outskirts of town was receiving a large number of deliveries for some reason.

Naturally they dismissed his idea to blow it up. Again they said they needed to get into it so they could get what they needed. Again he argued they needed to make a statement. One more time they told him they didn't need to hand Anderson anything else to vilify them even more. Nobody in this rebellion had the guts to do what was necessary. No they rather rely on that damned metal bug, and that made him sicker than bowing down to the green queen. So he wasn't that surprised when they decided to send him in with his usual bunch of misfits. To make matters worse Jaime, a man he used to respect, said he would go along with some of his people.

Jason couldn't help but smile at the opportunity they gave him. He and the bug had an agreement to wait and finish their fight until Anderson was taken down. Oh they have come close to breaking that loose agreement on more than one occasion. But that didn't mean he couldn't send in another body himself. Above ground he found a secluded spot and made a simple phone call, "Hector, you still want to get another shot at the Killer?"

***

Pulling up beside the van Jack took off his helmet as he surveyed the area. They might have told him outskirts but this looked like the middle of nowhere to him. Rachel and the others came out of the van and joined him. "So what's the plan of attack?", he asked Jaime. He kneeled down as he studied the mall area of buildings. Holding out a hand one of his men gave him some binoculars. To Rachel he asked, "Is it bad I'm not seeing hat as a good thing?"

"It could be worse," she said.

"I'm seeing scanners around the base," Jaime told them. "Around the perimeter. Looks like they're about twenty feet apart."

"And I had to say something," she said dropping her head.

Jack muttered something in French. Rachel snapped her head toward him in total surprise. He was caught a little off guard by her reaction, "What? I can't pick anything up?"

"No I'm shocked you used it correctly."

"I've heard you swear enough times I should know by now."

"It was usually directed at you to begin with," she shot back. Jamie glanced their way and coughed. "Don't worry we're focused on the mission."

"He's not mad," Jack said. "Trust me I've seen mad, that's just mildly irritated by most standards."

"All of the scanners are in a well lit area," Jaime continued. "Anderson not taking any chances."

"Here comes the truck," Arron announced. "Now what do we do?"

Sparky studied Jack face, "You got that 'I got an idea' look again."

"Trust me," was all he said as he got back on the bike. Nobody looked like they were going to do anything until he explained what plan was forming in his head. "Me, and maybe a couple of others, will head down there and distract them while Jaime and the rest take the truck."

"This is stupid," Jaime said. He looked at the truck coming closer. "But it's the only plan we have at the moment." Sparky, Arron and a couple from Jaime's cell volunteered to come with him. Jack looked over to Rachel, he could tell she wanted to go with him. But fortunately she said she'd stay with Jaime. "Alright people, we don't have much time so let's do this."

Jack took her hand before she entered the van and whispered, "The moment I hear gunshots in your direction I'll be there as fast as I can."

"You worry about those new sticks they have," she told him. "Freidman confirmed it was the same metal that bitch mentioned." Giving his hand a quick squeeze Rachel let go and got back in the van.

"Showtime," Jack said. Doing the movements to activate the system he said, "Henshin." The armor formed around him as he revved the engine. Leading the charge down the hill he got close to the nearest sensor before the alarm went off. By the time he passed it World Inc. security and soldiers started to pour out of the various building. Skidding to a stop he got off the bike and waited for them to circle him a bit. "Alright show of hands. How many of you are dumb enough to actually think I came alone?" About then a green wolf leaped on one of the soldiers back and knocked him to the ground. Sparky and the rest caught some more by surprise while their attention was toward him.

Jack saw a guy come at him with one of those sticks. He charged and decked him before he could do anything with it. Crushing it beneath his foot a couple of more came at him. He kicked one in the chest while grabbing the other by the front of the shirt. With one hand Jack picked him up and slammed him to the ground. He wasn't aware that someone was behind him and grabbing the back of his armor until a second before it happened. He went flying backwards in the air. Slamming into a wall he tried to keep standing, "I was wondering when the resident Drakan was showing up."

The trooper who tossed him slowly turned around to face him. About then Arron and another soldier crashed through a door next to him. "I'll take care of him later," the trooper grunted. A shell formed on his back and these antenna looking things grew out of his forehead as he turned into a red snail.

"In your dreams," Jack launched himself at the Drakan. It dodged him easily enough and was attacking faster than he was expecting. "I thought," he began as it took another swing at him, "you guys", he ducked, "were supposed to be," he tried kicking it's legs out, "slow," it leaped over the kick. A split second later a knee hit him under the chin. The snail took the moment he was dazed and slammed a fist repeatedly into his head. Jack caught the fist mid punch and twisted, causing it to grunt in pain. A straight right to the face knocked it back. About then he noticed the slime on his fist and tried to shake it off, "Ew."

The Drakan came at him again after it stopped seeing stars. Jack had a good idea at how it fought now. He was able to keep up with it as they exchanged blows and counters. Jack was able to grab it's arm and twist making it bend with the pain. "Killer!" Jack looked up and saw a man an extremely ugly man with a tattoo on his face come at him transforming to a blue walrus.

"Ah hell," he got out right before the walrus punched him. He let go of the snail who promptly pushed the newcomer out of the way. The walrus grabbed the snail, turned it around and punched it. Sparky looked up and pointed in their direction. He was about to say something before a couple of guards tackle the eel to the ground. "Sparky you need a new set of friends," he said to nobody in particular. Jack got up and jumped on the snail back while the walrus took a couple of free shots. The snail kicked the knee out from under the blue one and reached back throwing him on top of the walrus. Jack popped right back up but the blue Drakan tripped him up. "Oh come on!", he shouted at the walrus.

"Out of my way lower class filth," the red one said as it battered the walrus away. Jack grabbed the snail around the waist and threw him to the ground while a couple form Jaime's cell tried to grab the Walrus and drag him out of there. He got away from them and jumped on Jack while he was pounding on the snail.

He fought him off saying, "This is not the three way I usually go for." And he was so glad Rachel wasn't there to hear that one. The snail pushed him off while he was distracted. All three of them started to stand when a plan came to him. Waiting for the right moment he fought off both of them until he was able to get behind the snail and grabbed it's shell. Looking around it at the walrus he started taunting the Drakan, "Come on ugly, try and get me." The snail tried to get out of the way of the onslaught but Jack held him place by the shell and let him take the full brunt of it. Finally letting the snail go he reached for the blue Drakan's head and started throwing knees into it's face. Hearing the snail get back up he rammed the walrus into it's gut. The red Drakan bent over from the blow and backed up while Jack did the same thing as the meter flashed. He twisted the pod down and ran foreword, jumping off the walrus' shoulder with his left foot. Kicking the snail with his right it flew back and exploded. Jack turned to the Walrus and as menacing as he could said one word, "Run." The walrus didn't need to hear it again as it ran for the hills.

"Let's go!" Arron said finally coming out of the building he crashed into. He didn't need to tell Jack or anybody else twice. Jack ran and jumped on the bike. Spinning it in a few circles to keep the guards back he ran through them as he made a hole for the others. The van pulled up a second later and they leaped in as it sped off with Jack in the lead. After a few miles they pulled into a rest stop after they were sure they weren't being followed.

"The truck was a bust," Rachel said after they caught their breaths. "It was just filing equipment and some new computers. Nothing was on them, we checked."

"This might be worth something," Arron said pulling a CD case out of his coat. "It looked like it was the same code as the ones on the documents." They all looked at him. Embarrassed he continued, "I noticed I crashed into a computer room. After I took care of that guard I figured why not take a look around."

"It's probably encrypted," Jaime said taking the case. "Luckily I have a couple of guys who are good at breaking them."

"Nice going Fido," Jack said rubbing the top of his head. Arron knocked his hand away, but he looked pleased he made the right choice.

***

"Oh my God," Rachel moaned. She sat on Jack's cot as he stood behind her massaging her shoulder. She could feel the tension just melt away under his grip. Hell she felt so relaxed she could have fallen asleep right there. He stopped way too soon as he rubbed her arms and kissed the top of her head. "Why didn't you tell me you could do that?"

"I figured you think I was trying to cop a feel or something," he said as she got up. "And I figured since I was the boyfriend now it'd be a little more appropriate."

"You can do that any time you want as far as I'm concerned," she told him while stretching out her neck. Speaking of sleep, "I think I'll get ready for bed."

"I guess I better leave for a couple of minutes then," Jack said heading for the door. She stopped him and guided him back on to the cot.

"For doing wonders for my neck and shoulders, just this one time, I'm going to give you a little treat." She walked backwards unbuttoning her shirt and had Jack's full attention. As she took her shirt off she took a good look at his face. "Not a word out of you mister."

Holding up his hands he said, "Of course not. But if I was that word would have to be 'wow'." She smiled at him as she took her jeans off. Standing there in her bra and panties for a little longer than necessary, just long enough to give him a good look, she put on the oversized T-shirt she used. It took Jack a moment to stand up and get dressed into his sweats himself as she got her bed ready. She looked back at him and bit her lip.

"Jack I was wondering," she began as he started to get in his cot. "I mean I was thinking that maybe you'd want to sleep over here tonight."

He looked at her with slight surprise, "Are you sure?"

"We could just, you know, 'sleep' sleep not sleep… you know."

"I think we can manage that," he said with a smile. Both of them stared at the bed, "So… which side of it do you want?"

"I need the outside side of the bed. I don't know why, it's just something in my head."

"I got no problem with that." Jack got into the bed and held the covers open for her. She got in and snuggled next to him as he put an arm around her. "Night Rachel."

"Good night," she said and gave him a kiss. She never realized how right this was going to feel as they both drifted off to sleep.


	49. Chapter 49

Episode 49

Jack sat up with a start. With more practice than he wanted to admit he was able to keep himself from screaming out loud. Going into one of the breathing exercises Emily taught him he sat there until his heartbeat was back under control. After a few moments of silence he lay back down and stared at the ceiling totally disgusted with himself. One night, just one lousy night. Why was one night of totally uninterrupted sleep too much to ask for? Especially tonight of all nights. He glanced over at Rachel sleeping next to him, her bare shoulder and back not covered by the sheet. Yeah tonight would have been the perfect night not to have one of those damn nightmares.

"You had another one," she spoke up.

"Sorry," he said softly, "I didn't mean to wake you."

"I was already up. For somebody who can keep me guessing," she turned around, getting under his arm and rested her head on his shoulder, "your nightmares run surprisingly like clockwork. So what happened in this one?"

"Not a whole lot changed from last time," he told her. Rubbing her arm lightly he added, "Richie looked a little apologetic this time around though."

"That something at least," she said. "It might be a step in the right direction."

"Maybe. I just want this nightmare to stop already."

"I know you do, and so do I. but Dusty and Emily both said it'll go away when it goes away."

"I know it's just frustrating," he admitted. "I'm almost thirty and a nightmare is kicking my ass and keeping me up at night."

"Jack we'll beat this," Rachel assured him. "If I can promise you anything I will promise you that."

"Sounds like a lost cause to me," he joked. Giving her a quick squeeze he told her, "Go back to sleep, there's no point in both of us staying up all night."

"You know," she said as she traced one of the longer scars on his chest with a fingernail, "I might have a way to help you to go back to sleep."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really," she said smiling at him. Jack started to say something but she quieted him with a kiss. He didn't resist as she moved on top of him.

***

She knew the alarm clock was a few minutes from going off. Normally waking up before the alarm would have annoyed her to no end. But right now she couldn't really complain. In fact she could get used to waking up like this. She tried to remain quiet as Jack lightly kissed her on the neck and shoulder. Trying hard not to smile, and failing, she asked, "What do you think you're doing?" She wanted to sound annoyed but it wasn't happening.

"Nothing," was all he said. "But since you're up you wanna go for round three?"

"Any other day and I might think about it," she said getting out of his grip and turned off the alarm. Holding the sheet against her chest she sat up, "But Melissa needed to see me early this morning."

Jack lay back down saying, "The moment she smells me on you she's going to know what we did." With a half grin he added, "Twice."

"Which is why I want to get to the shower before there's a line. Do you have any idea where my nightgown went?"

"No idea," he told her. "I wasn't exactly paying attention all that much when things went flying." Sitting up he looked around, "It's on the other side of the dresser."

"Thanks." She reached out and grabbed it. Out of habit she stood up as she put it on. Realizing what she did she looked back and saw Jack grinning, "Enjoying the view?"

"I got no reason to complain."

"Smart man," she told him as she pulled it on. Going over to the dresser she picked out a fresh batch of clothes. Jack started to get out of bed as well but she stopped him. "Lie back down and get some rest, you got nothing important to do this morning. Try and get some more sleep if you can."

"I'll meet you later in the cafeteria if I can't."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Leaning down she gave him another kiss, "I love you."

"I love you too," he said in return as he lay back down. Luckily their room was close to the shower and there wasn't a line. Rachel wasn't sure how keen the average Drakan sense of smell was but they were still trying to keep their relationship quiet. And she did not want to give anybody any extra hints than necessary.

***

"Oh my God," Melissa said the moment she looked at Rachel. Her friend looked really annoyed real quick but she didn't care. "You two…"

"Have I told you how much I hate it when you read me like that," Rachel quickly said.

"I didn't read you," she informed her. "In fact I didn't need to."

"I ticked off a couple of people already taking an extra long shower."

"That's not how I knew either, although," she sniffed the air a couple of times, "that would explain the aroma I'm starting to pick up."

"Oh grow up," Rachel said sharply. Melissa started laughing, partially because she realized she just won the bet. God she was glad everybody agreed to move their target dates after Jack was of commission for a few months. Oh great how was she supposed to prove it. "Alright if it wasn't either of those then what was it?", Rachel demanded.

"You got a little extra bounce in your step," Melissa explained. "So either you found one of the hidden liquor stashes around here or…"

"Alright, alright," Rachel cut her off. "So much for trying to keep things quiet."

"Hey I'm the only one around here who knows you guys are a couple now. So I know the meaning behind the act. Everybody else…," she trailed off.

"Just shoot me now," she said hanging her head. Trying to get things back on track she said, "So has Jaime's guys broken the encryption on that disc yet?"

"Not fully," she said. "According to him there's a couple of different files on that thing. They were able to crack a couple of them so far, but it's nothing but minor things. Schedules, work rotations stuff like that. The other information on the disc has a tougher encryption program that's proving harder to crack."

Rachel nodded, "Jack's Uncle Petey's first rule of locks: the more elaborate the lock the better the prize inside."

"That's what we're hoping," she said. "But right now I'm not keeping my hopes up. It could be somebody's diary for all we know."

"Then I guess we're no closer to finding that secret base then," Rachel said.

"Actually I think we're closer than we think," Melissa said. "Using some of the information we gathered so far we were able to pick up a convoy here and there heading into the mountains where we think it is. Unfortunately we lose sight of them by the time we hit the mountains."

"Well I doubt whatever he's using is going to be in plain sight."

"I know. Every cell we have has been climbing over each other trying to find it. However he's hiding it he's getting his moneys worth. God this is driving me nuts. Something in my guts is telling me this is going to be big, whatever it is, and we can't even find it."

"I'm just hoping we'll catch a break before it's too late," Rachel admitted.

"So do I, so do I." Melissa guided her toward the cafeteria, "Come on, let's get some breakfast. I think right on an empty stomach." When they got there Jack already had a tray and was heading toward their table. He saw them and waved, Rachel waved back. Melissa on the other hand noticed how Sparky and Arron were looking at him.

Following him to the table Sparky said, "Dude did you two…?"

"Shut up Sparky," Jack warned him.

"You and Rachel…"

Jack hand shot out and grabbed him around the collar of his shirt. Pulling him close Jack looked him right in the eyes. "I am in no mood to be hiding from Angie. So don't do or say anything that would make me hurt you."

"Wasn't going to say a word," Sparky gulped. Arron quickly backed away with his hands in the air when Jack shot that gaze toward him.

Rachel buried her face in her hands, "We never stood a chance."

"Nope," Melissa told her. She tried not to smile but she finally had the proof she needed to claim the prize money. She was going to have to find a way to thank them without letting on why.

***

"The rebels are getting bolder," Taylor said from behind him. Anderson stood by as Armstrong and his team tried to get their demonstration ready. This was the third time he had visited the complex, he was hoping this one was going to be fruitful. "They seem to be attacking our convoys at will."

"Was Davidson with them?", he asked only partially paying attention to him.

"For a couple of them," he answered. "But that's not the point sir. Their attacks are getting closer and closer to this location."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later Mr. Taylor. The rebels know something is out here, naturally they are going to investigate. Personally, given their track record, I'm surprised it's taking them this long."

"I don't know how you can be this calm," Taylor told him. "We're not ready to defend this place if they decide to go on a major offensive."

"Trust me Mr. Taylor that thought is first and foremost on my mind. But I have a company to run, a million different things a day vie for my attention. One has to learn to be calm and prioritize. But if it makes you feel any better…" Waiting to catch the scientist in a calmer state of chaos he continued, "Dr. Armstrong, do we have an estimate for when the subjects are going to be ready for duty?"

"The first batch won't be ready for another couple of weeks yet."

"Somehow I doubt we have that much time," Anderson commented, amused at Taylor reaction. "Which is why I do not like to rely on one thing at a time. That is something I should have remembered when we activated Davidson."

"We're ready to begin the test Mr. Anderson," Armstrong announced.

"Excellent, you may begin Dr. Armstrong." Anderson put his hands behind his back and waited. Armstrong directed his men as he stood by a diamond shaped device suspended in a crystal column. Giving the word a man by a set of computers punched in a command and the device emitted a multilayered squeal. After a few moments Armstrong ordered to shut the device down.

Anderson walked past the device and to a bare mannequin in the center of the room. As he looked it over Armstrong asked, "What do you think?"

He started smiling, "I am officially impressed Doctor. An excellent job. Install these around the complex. I do believe you are aware of where the more vital areas are." Armstrong nodded and had two of his men unhook the device and move it elsewhere. Sometimes you had to know how to head off some of the things vying for your attention before it becomes too problematic.

***

"So what are we hitting this time?", Sparky asked as they piled into the war room. Melissa waited a few more moments so everyone was inside before starting. Sparky turned toward Arron saying," Five bucks says it's another truck."

"Now there's a sucker bet if I ever heard one," the youth commented.

"Smart move Arron," she told him. "I know you guys are tired of hitting these trucks left and right. But we're no closer to finding this hidden base of my cousins."

"So they have nothing new from that disc," Jack spoke up.

"So much for the 'great' find," Jason sneered.

"At least he's doing something a little more useful than whining about not being to be able to blow things up," Jack shot back. Rachel hushed him while a couple of others were giving Jason the eye.

Ignoring the two of them Melissa went on, "But we finally have a good lead this time around. A lone truck with a two car escort is hitting the mountain trail this evening. Normally I wouldn't bring this to your attention, but thanks to our wire taps we learned this man is in charge of the run." At her direction Nathan activated a projector. By her an image of a portly, young man appeared.

Jack's jaw nearly dropped to the floor, "Holy crap it's Tim."

"This is just a shot in the dark," Arron said, "but I'm guessing you know him."

"He worked in R&D," Rachel said. "He was one of the scientists who developed the Fusion system. In fact he was the one who pushed for Jack's particular weapons."

"That's why you don't have a geek on the team," Jack said dryly while he flexed his right hand.

"Quiet," Rachel told him. "When we were there he wasn't that high up the ladder."

"He's apparently rose in the ranks since then," Melissa said. "He's as high you can get in World Inc. and still be human." For some reason Jack looked happy to hear that. "And personal that high up don't do milk runs. You're priority is going to be stopping that truck. If you can, question the people in the convoy. I don't think you'll be able to so don't go out of your way to do so."

"Are we going to meet up with Jaime's cell on the way there?", Rachel asked.

"They can't make it for this one," she informed them. "They're following their own leads and I don't want to stretch them too thin. So we're going to go with a smaller strike team." She listed off the names of the people she had in mind. Melissa pretty much guessed the reaction when she named the last two, "Jason and Jack."

"What?!", Jason exploded.

"Well this mission just went down the crapper," Jack commented. Rachel wisely got him out of there. Sparky and the other soon followed, making sure Jack and Jason went in opposite directions.

Arron stayed behind to ask, "You sure putting the two of them on the same team is a good idea?"

"Why do you think I waited this long?", she answered. "Right now I don't have a choice in the matter. I just hope it doesn't blow up in my face."

***

The rain wasn't helping the mood any. Despite the downpour Jack insisted on riding his bike to the ambush point. The funny part was nobody really argued with him. Although he thought she was crazy Rachel rode behind him on the bike. "You'd be dryer in the van," he had argued.

"Somebody needs to keep an eye on you," she shot back.

Fortunately the rain started to let up a bit when they reached the point, but it was still coming down pretty good. Arron hoped out of the van saying, "I think we're a few minutes early."

"It's better than being a few minutes late," Sparky quipped. Jack and Jason caught a quick glimpse of each other before he moved further inside the van. Sparky saw it and quickly told Jack, "Dude don't start anything."

"Tell it to the chimp," he mumbled. Rachel slapped his arm. Jack couldn't help but noticed that the others started to form a buffer zone between them. At least he wasn't the only one expecting this to get ugly. Well on top of the usual fight with the World Inc. assault troopers. "Anybody have any idea what kind of security this convoy is going to have? If Tim is as high up as they think he should have a ton of guards."

"We got a plan," Arron told him.

"Does it involve what's in the chimps bag?", he asked.

"Keep your nose out of my belongings bug," Jason warned form the van.

"Dude we all know what you brought," Sparky informed him. "We worked out the plan on the way here. There should be a car in the front of the truck and one behind it. Arron figured our best bet would be to use the laser on your bike to take out the lead car. That should stop the truck, at least cause it to slow down."

"That's a pretty big 'should'," he said.

"It's the best we got," the blue haired Drakan told him.

Jack nodded, then he looked behind him, "Rachel…"

"Get in the van until you take out the lead car," she said for him. She surprised him by getting off the back of the bike, "Sounds like a plan to me."

"You're not going to argue?", Jack asked as he took off her helmet and tossed it in the van. "You always argue when I try to keep you safe."

"Because I realize the guards might have guns and you're the only one who's actually bulletproof," she told him. Before getting in the van she whispered in his ear, "Don't get used to it, I'll be disagreeing with you again before you know it."

"I'm not betting against it," he told her. Sparky grinned and was about to say something until a look from both of them shut him up. Very aware of the empty space behind him Jack waited for the convoy to show up. The rain was still going strong when Arron spotted it. Jack activated the system before jumpstarting the bike, "Henshin!" The armor formed around him as he speed down to the road. The van waited a bit before following him down. Once on the roads he headed straight for the lead car. Flipping a switch on the control two panels on either side of the headlight slid away and two laser emitters popped out. Hitting the triggers on the handlebars the lasers fired at the grill of the lead car. It took several shots but he was able to kill the engine. Like they hoped the truck stopped. World Inc. soldiers piled out of the cab, the trailers and the cars as he came to a stop. The van pulled up behind him as they got out and reverted to their Drakan forms.

"Let's do this," Sparky said as they charged toward them. Jack took the lead as he targeted the first trooper with a gun he saw. Dropping him with a punch he looked around and saw several troopers with the spike from their sticks already out.

"Oy," he grunted. They came at him at once. Jack did everything he could to avoid those spikes coming at him. A couple tried to get behind him and he did everything to stop them. "I don't need any more holes," he said out of frustration. Arron and Sparky were able to break away from their fights and tackle a couple of them. That distraction allowed him to punch out one and floor another with a kick to the chest. Tossing another one he saw the last one standing there with a smile on his face. "You ready to go smiley?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," his face extended into a snout and he grew red fur as he turned into a hyena, a smile still plastered on his lips. It dropped the stick and came at him. Jack was ready for him easily blocking or dodging what he could. Ducking under a lunge he turned around into a kick to the chest that knocked him back. That's when he hit something and it took him a second to realize it wasn't one of the vehicles. The hyena started laughing as it turned around and started fighting with Sparky. Jack slowly turned around to see he was eye level with some guy's chest, some guy's massive chest. Then he looked up to see a guy who had to be at least eight foot glare down at him.

"You're a big sumbitch ain't you?", Jack said in amazement. Without a word he grabbed him by the throat and picked him off the ground before throwing him with all his might. Making a dent in the trailer as he hit it Jack plopped to the ground. "Oh yeah," he grunted as he struggled to get up, "I felt that one." The giant hunched over and flicked a forked tongue as his finger tips became claws and grew red scales as he changed into a komodo dragon. Getting to his feet he was swatted back down by a massive backhand. The dragon picked him back up and swiped it's claws against his chest. Avoiding another grab Jack got to his feet and started attacking. Punches, kicks, elbows, knees anything he could think of. The giant Drakan just stood there and took it all without batting an eye. Jack stopped and looked at the dragon in disbelief, "Where in the hell was Anderson hiding you?"

The Drakan answer was to grab him by the throat again and pick him up. Holding him there Jack started getting desperate and started throwing knees at it's head. One finally affected the dragon as it let go and grabbed at it's mouth. Jack tried to tackle the Drakan to the ground after getting a running start. It didn't budge. Instead the dragon reached down and grabbed him around the waist and easily picked him up. Squirming out of it's grip Jack landed behind, turned around and quickly rammed his shoulder behind it's knee. The Drakan toppled to the ground. Jack tried to get on top of the dragon but a massive hand pushed him away. Rolling backwards with the momentum he twisted the pod up. The mini turbines in his belt started spinning and a charge went up his side and down his right arm. Running at the Drakan he punched it with everything he had as he aimed for it's chest. The dragon took exactly one step back before exploding. "Son of a bitch," Jack moaned as he tried to catch a breather.

"We got to get out of here!" Tim yelled from the back seat of the rear car. One of the troopers broke away and jumped into the driver seat.

"You don't have to tell me twice," the hyena said as he got into the truck cab. Getting the truck going it pushed the lead car out of the way before turning to the other side of the road with the rear car following.

"We got to stop that truck!" Sparky said as he had a trooper in a headlock.

"This is going to suck," Jack muttered as he got an idea. Running for the van he shouted, "Give me the bag!" Rachel tossed it to him and he changed direction to his bike.

"Let go of my bag!" Jason yelled as he punched out a trooper.

Jack ignored him as he slung the bag over his shoulder. Turning the bike around he raced off after the truck. Catching up to it he sped up and tried to pass it. The hyena tried to run him off the road but he was finally able to get in front of it. Twisting the accelerator as far as it could go he sped ahead. Getting a good stretch of road between them Jack turned the bike around and faced the truck as he took the bag off his shoulder. Patting the side of the bike he said, "I'm sorry baby," before reaching into the bag. Pulling out some explosives with a timer he slapped it on the gas tank. Dumping the bag he set the timer for thirty seconds and hoped it was long enough. Waiting a bit he peeled out and raced for the truck, activating the timer. As they got closer to each other Jack grabbed the staff from it's holder and positioned himself to jump. At the last second he jumped off and the truck crashed into the bike, getting it stuck under the bumper.

Jack flipped over the cab and landed on the trailer. The wet surface from the rain made him slip as he landed. Finding his footing he extended one half of the staff as he ran for the other end of it. Near the end he twisted the dial all the way and jumped off. With a scream he raised the staff over his head and plunged the end of the staff through the hood of the car as he landed. Squeezing his end he sent the full charge into the engine destroying it and making the car grind to a halt. A few seconds later the charge went off blowing up his bike and taking the truck cab with it.

Tim scrambled out of the back seat as Jack pulled the staff out of the hood. The driver came out and tried to attack him but Jack quickly took care of him. Trying to get away as Jack stalked him Tim fell in the mud. He was on top of him the next second. Twisting the dial he held the electrode over his chest and demanded, "Where are you going?!" When he didn't answer Jack held it higher like he was going to jab it down and yelled, "Talk!"

"Anderson has a base in the mountains," he quickly said. "There's a hidden entrance, disguised as a closed road. It's the first one you see, I swear!"

"Now what are you carrying?!"

"Equipment and plans." Tim reached into his coat and pulled out another computer disc. "The code is E-11. Type that in and it'll decrypt itself. I swear to God I'm telling you the truth."

"If you're telling the truth then so will I," Jack told him. "This thing is set on stun." Tim jolted a bit as he jammed it into his chest and passed out. Jack got up and looked around to see Arron staring at him. He looked at what was left of the truck and looked at him, "Don't remind me."

"So you let him live?", he asked gesturing toward Tim.

Shrugging a bit he told him, "I've gave him a lot of crap back then but I've always had a bit of a soft spot for him. He always how I thought Richie would be like if I wasn't around. What about the truck?"

"You're not going to like it," he said. Deactivating the armor jack followed him. The back of the trailer was open and the others were still looking inside. Rachel bit her lip as he walked up and looked inside. Among the various pieces of equipment that were thrown about he recognized one thing right away. He was in one of them more times than he cared to remember. While a few were broken five complete human sized tubes stood there. Jack was for a loss of words.


	50. Chapter 50

Episode 50

Walking into the garage Rachel could feel a slight change in the air. Most of the people there kept over to one particular area. She was heading over there anyway so she really didn't need to look. Walking up behind Jack she wrapped her arms around his waist and looked with him. He was there for who knows how long staring at the empty space his motorcycle used to occupy. After a while he said," It was for the good of the cause. We had to do what we had to do to stop the truck."

Squeezing him a little tighter she said, "You don't believe a word of what you just said."

"Nope," he replied. "I know it was just a machine. Hell I'm mostly machine."

"Let's not go into this again." She told him. "How many times do I have to tell you you're the most human guy I know?" Looking at the empty space and sighing a bit she added, "But I'll admit it's weird not seeing it here. It seems like you had that thing forever. Even if you were driving like a mad man the first time you rode it."

She looked up at him, like she hoped Jack started smiling a bit, "That never stopped you from riding with me again."

"It was either ride with you or walk."

"One coming in," the guard at the door announced. In moments the door opened up to let in a rusted out old truck, affectionately known as Bessie. When it came to a stop Sparky stood up in the truck bed while Dusty and Arron came out of the cab.

"Hey there son, little lady," Dusty greeted them as they walked up.

"Hi Dusty," Rachel waved in return. "What's going on?"

"Well I heard about what happened," Dusty explained. "I came in earlier and picked up these two to show me where it happened. I had the damn fool notion we could salvage some of it."

Sparky bent down and pulled up a burnt rubber and steel wheel that Arron took and put on the ground. Sparky looked at him saying, "We're pretty sure that's the back tire." Looking back into the bed he added, "I think we found what was left of the exhaust pipe but… ah… it's a little too mangled to be sure."

"I don't know what I was thinking," Dusty said.

"I tried to tell you it was a lost cause," Arron told him.

"I didn't think it was going to be that bad," the old Drakan said.

"Explosive on the gas tank," the youth said. "How bad did you think it was going to be?"

While they argued Jack walked up to the tire and stated rolling it back and forth slightly. He looked extremely sad for a moment. "Maybe we can turn it into a souvenir or something," Sparky offered. "Maybe a table."

"Junk it," Jack told him. "It wasn't even my bike, just something I stole from World Inc. when I went on the run." He walked away from the group.

Rachel looked over to Dusty saying, "Hang on to that for the time being." He nodded and motioned for Arron to put it back on the truck while she followed Jack out the door. Catching up and walking next to him she had to ask, "Did you believe anything that you just said?"

"Not a word," he answered.

"Well start, I hate seeing you like this."

"I'll try," he told her. She doubted it but didn't say anything.

Instead Rachel said, "Maybe we can head over to Dusty's one of these days. I'm sure he has a motorcycle or two in his auto yard you can rebuild. It'll give you guys something to do."

"You're trying to talk me into getting another bike? I figured you'd try and convince me to stick with the van or something."

"Well," she said taking his hand, "I never told you this but I've always loved hanging on to you while I rode behind you."

***

"Come on Jack," Jaime said while he held the practice pad in front of him, "don't start slacking on me now." He pounded a few more combinations into the bag. "One more time Jack, come on." He threw a few punched before jumping up and coming down with an elbow strike. Jaime barely got the pad up in time. Looking at him he commented, "I didn't see that one coming."

Shrugging Jack told him, "I like to finish with a bang."

"Let's call it a day here," Jaime said throwing the pad at him.

"If you really need the break." Heading over to a cooler Jack took a bottled water for himself and tossed one to Jaime. Taking a drink he asked, "Did that code I forced out of Tim work?"

"Yeah," he answered. "It even worked for that other disc too."

"So what's on it?"

"Melissa's still going over it," he said while not looking at him. "She wants to go over everything before letting the rest of you know."

"Sounds big," Jack commented.

"It is," Jaime said. "She sworn me to secrecy you know, I can't say anything until she's ready."

"Fair enough," was his response.

"That's it?", he asked stunned. "You're not going to ask, pry or beg? You're not going to force it out of me?"

"Nope," he said taking another drink.

"Why not?"

"Because it looks like you're dying to tell me somebody and it's more fun to see you suffer like this." Jaime threw his towel at him. "Thank you," he said while wiping off his face.

"I swear Lance didn't even scratch the surface when he described you."

"I can't even count the times I've heard that." Then again he wasn't in a real rush to find out what Anderson was planning now. His gut was telling him whatever it was, it was going to be big. Of course the fact he was remembering more and more of his conversation with Richie wasn't helping things any.

"Yeah, well maybe you should take the hint," Jaime told him.

"Now where's the fun in that?"

***

This was not going to go over with them rest of them. Hell rumors were already starting to spread after they stopped the truck. Melissa wanted to bash her head into the wall when Jaime handed the data they decoded. Unfortunately she knew exactly what they had to do. The other cell leaders agreed with her. That was the easy part, the hard part was coming up. She arrived late to the war room trying to put this off, everybody watched her. "Sorry I'm a little late."

"We didn't have anything better to do," Jack said.

"Speak for yourself bug," Jason spat.

"So what is Anderson doing now?", Rachel asked cutting off Jacks response.

"First thing first," Melissa told them. "Apparently this Tim person was telling the truth about this mysterious compound. We found the closed off road he was talking about and followed it as best we could." She nodded and the lights went out. A second later a mountain entrance was projected on the wall beside her. "As you can see the guards are wearing World Inc. uniforms and it's heavily guarded. But a little searching around the area let us discover a couple of vents we think we can use to get in."

"But is the prize worth getting in?", Sparky asked.

"That's going to depend on the lock," Rachel told him.

"That's my line," Jack said. She elbowed him in the side.

"Unfortunately it's a prize we may not want." Bracing herself she nodded again and the image changed. The mixture of emotion that came at her almost knocked her for a loop. Beside her a schematic drawing stared back at them. Jack stood up and slowly walked foreword, disbelief etched on his face. She gave him a sympathetic look as she glanced down at the words on the lower right corner. The words said "Fusion system". "As you can see there's a possibility Anderson is starting again."

Jack just stared at the image, "Damn it."

Rachel joined him looking at the image. "I remember seeing the schematics for Jack's system. It didn't look anything like this."

"Maybe it's for the Mark 2 system," Sparky offered.

"We barely survived Mitchell," Arron told him.

"Damn it," Jack repeated.

"The other cell leaders and myself have a plan. The basic idea is we're going to take it out before he can activate this one."

"How are we supposed to do that?", Sparky asked.

"It's going to be a two prong attack," she explained. "Most of the cells are going to attack the main gate head on. We're hoping this will distract them enough so a smaller group can get in and disable the life support system." Knowing what the next question was going to be before it was asked she answered, "Jaime's and a couple of other cells are working on an EMP device to disrupt the life support tube. The range won't be all that great but it should do the job."

"How do you know it's going to work?", Rachel asked.

"We don't," she admitted. "But going by what we know of the tubes they used before we think it will. We're hoping this is going to affect other systems they have there."

"You do realize," Nathan spoke up from the back, "the inside unit is going on what's basically a suicide run."

"I know," she said, "which is why I'm asking for volunteers."

Jack raised his hand, to the shock of Rachel and everybody else, "I'm in."

"We could use you on the outside," Nathan commented.

"I'll be more useful on the inside," he told him. "Not all the guards are going to be heading for the front door."

"If Jack's going in then I'm going in," Arron spoke up. He looked over to Sparky who said nothing, he wasn't even looking at him.

The point of an elbow right in the side made him say, "I guess I'm in too."

"I'm letting the bug take credit for all of this," Jason said. "Even if it is a fools goal."

Nobody else spoke up so Melissa said, "Thank you. For those of you who didn't say anything I don't blame you. Jaime volunteered to go with you. I'll find out how many he was able to get to go in with him." Without a word they all piled out of the room. The somberness of their mood echoed what she was feeling.

***

"Are you nuts!", Angie yelled at Sparky. Emily and Melissa past them as they walked the halls. Sparky tried to explain his side of things but she was barely letting him get a word in edgewise. She wished she could tell them he was going to be alright. But truthfully, much like Jack's confrontation with Christopher, the future was cloudy, she had no idea what was going to happen.

Melissa stopped and went back to them. She said a few words to them. Angie still didn't seem happy but she hugged Sparky around the neck and told him to be careful. Melissa rejoined her and they continued on their way. She did that with Jason and Arron so far, that just left one other person.

They found him in his room sitting alone. That surprised Emily a little. Then again right now it was probably for the best. Jack barely acknowledged their presence as he watered his plant. The yellow petals seemed to perk up slightly as the roots drank it up. "I still can't believe this was in the middle of a bunch of weeds," He said. "I still can't believe I haven't killed them yet."

"You were determined to help them live," Emily told him. "I would have been surprised if they weren't surviving in this environment under your care."

"So how loped sided is this going to be?", he asked. Both of them knew what he meant.

"Jaime has a couple of guys to go in with him," Melissa answered, "so seven of you will be going in." He nodded. "So where's Rachel? I'd figured she be in here."

"She said she needed to think," he replied. "I didn't want to distract her."

"I'll talk to her later," she said. "But I really wanted to talk to you for a moment."

"About what?", he asked. "About how I apparently lost my marbles?"

"Something like that," she said. "I already talked to the others. Look Jack I know we always haven't been the best of friends. And we've had our ups and downs. Most times I trusted your judgment, although there were a few times I thought you were off your rocker."

"No offense but this is sounding more and more like a good-bye speech by the second," he commented.

"I know, I've said it three times so far and it sucked each time," she tried to laugh. "But I do care about you as a friend Jack. And more people than me want you to come back in one piece. One person in particular really wants you to come back alive."

"I'll do my best," he said a little half heartedly.

"Also I thought I should tell you this in person. From the look of things Anderson is spending less and less time at the main World Inc. building. Chances are he's spending that time at this complex."

Emily silently watched as Jack looked right at her. She knew what he was thinking. Finally he said, "If he's there take him out."

Melissa sighed, "That's not what I'm saying. If he is there be careful. They're going to guard him as much as they guard this other Fusion."

"If there's just the one," Jack said darkly.

"Let's not go making this bigger than necessary child," Emily spoke up.

"She's right," Melissa agreed. "It's going to be rough enough as it is."

"Right," he said, "so when are we leaving?"

"As soon as Jaime says the device is ready." Not sure of what else to say Melissa went, "I better find Rachel and see how she's doing."

"Melissa," Jack said as she went to the door. "I know I'm going to see you again, but I'm glad I took you up on that offer."

"I'm glad you took it Jack," she hugged him. "You better come back."

"Like I aid I'll do my best. And I'll do everything to get the rest of them home too, even the chimp. I am the champion after all." Emily stayed behind while she left. After a moment Jack asked her, "So what are my odds exactly?"

"I don't know child," she answered. "The future is branching out in too many directions to know for sure. But I can tell you this, he will give you an opening to finish it. If you don't take it I don't know if you can beat him. And that the decisions you make during this will determine your final fate."

"That's not as comforting as I was hoping it would be."

"It's the best I can do for you child."

***

After a little searching she found Rachel by herself in a supply room sitting on a crate. It was a quiet area with nobody else around. Melissa used this place a few times herself when she needed to think. Rachel said nothing as she sat next to her. Just sitting in silence for awhile she eventually asked, "How are you doing?"

"I don't want him to go in," she said, "but I know he has too. I just get the feeling I'm never going to see him again."

"You can' think like that," Melissa told her. "Beside you and I both know he's just stubborn enough to come out of this in one piece and then some."

"I really hate this champion thing he's supposed to be," she admitted. "I don't know what it means. Jack still doesn't know what it's supposed to mean. But he's letting it drive him. From staying behind when we had to move to facing Mitchell to this."

"Emily said it was something already in him," she said. "Circumstances just forced it out of him."

"I just don't want to lose him. I almost lost him once, I don't want to go through that again."

"Maybe you should tell him this," Melissa told her. "It could give him an extra incentive to come back." Rachel said nothing right away. "I think it'll have a lot more weight to it if you told him what you told me."

"He has too many things on his mind right now as it is. I don't want to add to it."

"You'd be surprised what I'd make room for," Jack surprised them both by appearing in the doorway.

"I'll leave the two of you alone." Pausing just long enough for jack to enter she left. Looking back Melissa saw him sit next to her and take her hand.

***

It seemed like forever before Jaime said the device was ready. And she spent all the time she could with Jack before then. It still didn't seem like it was long enough. He left for the garage to go over the final plans with Melissa. In that time alone Rachel made up her mind. Passing everybody in the hallways she made her way to the garage. Luckily they were still there so she wasn't too late. Melissa was talking about where they were going to meet up with the other cells when Jack noticed her walk foreword, "Come to see us off?"

"Not exactly," she said. Ignoring the look Melissa was giving her she continued, "I'm going with you."

"Yeah, we'll be over here," Sparky said as they walked away from the two of them. Despite that Jack took her by the arm and pulled her in the other direction.

"You're not going," he told her.

"Yes I am," she said firmly. "I'm still your mission operator. Or did you forget that already?"

"No I didn't forget and this is a hell of a time to bring it back up now. You heard them, there's no guarantee we're coming out of this one alive."

"We started this together Jack," she said, "and you told me we're going to finish this together."

"This is different," he started to say.

"Rachel listen to reason," Melissa tried to tell her.

"Stay out of this," Rachel snapped.

"Talk some sense into her," Arron told Jack.

"Arron," he pointed at him without looking in his direction. To Rachel he said, "Do you have any idea how dangerous this is going to be?"

"All the more reason you need all the eyes you can get watching your back."

"I got plenty of eyes watching my back already. Why are you pushing this so hard?"

"Why are you fighting so hard against it?" she shot back.

"Because I care about you and I don't want you getting hurt."

"And I care about you too you big moron."

"Young love," Sparky quipped, "it's a beautiful thing."

Neither taking their eyes off the other both of them shouted, "Shut up Sparky!"

"See they're even speaking at the same time now," he continued.

"Do you treat all your girlfriends this way?", Rachel demanded.

"You're the only one who went out of her mind," Jack said letting his temper get the best of him.

"Whoa… girlfriend?", Sparky said stunned.

"That's right she said girlfriend," he snapped as he turned toward the rest of them. "Unless your ear's been surgically removed from the grapevine we are officially a couple." Everybody but Melissa just looked at him. Melissa, on the other hand, was burying her face in her hand. "Don't just stand there gawking, exchange money or something?" His shoulders slumped when Sparky handed Arron a twenty, a few more bills exchanged hands with the others. "Are your lives really that empty?"

"Don't change the subject," Rachel told him as she turned him back around. Jack put his hand on his head as he looked around. He looked like he got an idea. Reaching out he grabbed her by the back of the head, pulled her close and kissed her. He kissed her for a long time. She struggled at first, only to partially kiss him back. She did not want that to be their last one. When he pulled away she asked, "Was that supposed to convince me to stay here?"

"No," he looked upset with himself, "It's something incredibly stupid." There a hum in the air right before she felt something against her stomach. Then she felt nothing.

***

Feeling himself be torn apart he watched as Rachel jolted for what seemed like an eternity. Dropping the staff he caught her as she started to fall. Holding her limp form in his arm he held her close. Whispering in her ear he told her, "I'll find a way to make this up to you. I love you Rachel, never forget that." Picking her up in his arms Jack carried her to a bench and carefully set her down on top of it. Gently pushing the hair from her face he kissed her on the cheek. Before leaving her he took off the jacket and used it to cover her.

When he turned around he saw Melissa standing behind him. Instead of looking angry she nodded in understanding and handed the staff back to him. Without a word he took the foil out of the hood and headed to the van with the others. "You guys are a couple?", Sparky asked as he passed. "I thought you two were just having sex."

"Shut up Sparky," he snapped as he entered the van. Sitting near the back Jack didn't look at any of them as they got in. The chimp said something but he wasn't listening. Right now all he was seeing was the hurt and betrayal in her eyes right before she passed out.

***

In the halls of the complex Anderson walked with Taylor, Armstrong and Gen. Rhodes right behind him. Of the four he was the only one who looked like it was still business as usual. "I still can't believe Tim caved like that," Armstrong said.

"According to him," Rhodes said, "he was positive Davidson was going to kill him. It must have been one hell of a performance.

"Desperate times my good General," Anderson spoke up. "The rebels are starting to feel the pressure of the situation and they intend to go out swinging. I would be surprised if they did anything else."

"It doesn't change the fact they know where we are now," Taylor told him.

"As I told you before Mr. Taylor it was bound to happen sooner or later." Continuing walking Anderson added, "Now is as good as time as any."

"Except I don't know if I can get any more soldiers here before then, "Rhodes said. "I had to send most of the ones we had here back to their bases because their COs were starting to complain about how long I was keeping them."

"Oh I'm sure Mr. Perez and his men are more than ready for the rebels," Anderson told him. "I for one can't wait to see how they are going to respond to the information they acquired. In fact I hope some of them make it this far." A door opened up that allowed them to enter. "I want them to see what the ultimate goal of the Fusion system actually was." They passed a couple of tubes that turned into a row of tubes that turned into several rows of tubes. Each was filled with the blue liquid, each one had a person floating inside. "I want them to see," Anderson continued, "exactly how futile their little rebellion is."


	51. Chapter 51

Episode 51

Outside of the occasional murmur their van was relatively quiet. Sparky and the others kept glancing back back at him with some concern. Although the chimp glances were filled with contempt. Right now he wasn't paying them any attention. His thoughts were back at the Habitat, with Rachel. With what he did to keep her out of this one. Leaning back against the van he voiced the only thought going through his head, "She's going to kill me."

"More than likely she'll thank God your alive," Sparky spoke up, "then she'll kill you." He was joking but nobody was laughing, although a couple of them did groan. Jack didn't respond at all. "I know, I know shut up Sparky."

"You did what you had to do," Arron said. "Rachel wasn't listening to reason."

"It doesn't make me feel any better," Jack said softly.

"Don't worry man," Sparky told him. "She'll get over it sooner or later. She'll never let you forget it but she'll get over it."

"How much longer to the rendezvous point," Jason barked.

"About twenty minutes," their driver announced.

"How much resistance do you think we're going to get?", Sparky asked out loud.

"I guess you'll find out when we get there," Arron told him.

"I wasn't really looking for an answer."

Again Jack tuned them out and his mind went back to her."

***

"Uh," Rachel grunted as she came to her senses. It took her a couple of moments to realize where she was. She was a little confused to find Jack's jacket on top of her. Trying to sit up she felt a small patch of pain on her stomach. Putting a hand on it she remembered everything. "If he's survives I'm going to kill him."

"I don't think he'll try and stop you." She looked around to find Melissa sitting beside her. "He took the foil with him in case you're wondering." It took her a moment to process what she meant. Then she looked inside the hood, it was empty. "I told Jaime to find him a cap or something to hold it place when he sees him."

"So Jaime knows."

"I didn't give him the whole story, or go into any details." Rachel held the jacket tightly in her hands. "So have you have come back to your senses now or am I going to have to get Emily to beat some into you?"

"There's no point now is there?", she said bitterly.

"Well it's hard to blame Jack for what he did when you weren't giving him much of a choice. Seriously Rachel what was going through your head?"

"I had to be there for him," was all she said.

"You do realize how dangerous this is going to be right?", she asked. "Jack doesn't need to be worrying about you getting hurt in the chaos."

"I know all right, I know," she snapped. "I just can't shake this feeling he's not going to make it. And I didn't want him to be alone if he…," she couldn't finish it. Melissa put a comforting arm around her and held her as the tears started to fall.

***

When they got there several vans and trucks clogged the road, all of them had Drakan rebels inside of them and standing around. Peering out the window Sparky whistled, "When they said full assault they weren't kidding." Jamie made his way through the crowd with a couple of his men following. They opened the door to let him in, he looked around until he found Jack.

"Melissa said you'd be bear headed." Reaching into a pocket he pulled out a ski cap and handed it to him. "It's the best I could do, sorry."

"It's better than nothing," he told him as he took it and started lining the inside with the foil. "And we don't want them to know I'm coming."

Jack put it on as they piled out of the van. Jaime pulled him aside as he stepped out. "Melissa really didn't say what happened but are you going to be all right?"

"I moped on the way here," he answered. "Don't worry my head's in the game. Speaking of what's the final plan?"

"They're going to give us a thirty minute head start to get to the vent. We should be inside by the time they hit the front gate."

"That sounds a little tight," Arron said.

"Unfortunately we don't know what type of lockdown procedures they have in case of attack. If the vents are sealed off as part of that procedure we're screwed."

"Where's the device?", Jason asked.

Jaime and one of the guys with behind him readjusted the backpack they were wearing. "It's in here. We'll make the final connections once we're near the new Fusion. Jack it goes without saying I don't want you anywhere near this thing when it goes off."

"I hear you, but I'm not making any promises I can't keep in the heat of the moment," he answered. Jaime looked like he didn't want to hear but he nodded.

"The clock's ticking," Jaime said, "we better get going." He took the lead as the crowd started honking their horns in support. None of them looked in their direction as they concentrated on their task. Jack felt eerily calm the entire time. He knew this path he was one was nearing its end, and he was ready for it. Jack just had to get to Anderson before somebody stopped him from getting there.

After a twenty minute hike they found the vent they were supposed to be using. Making sure there wasn't any sensors on it Jaime and Sparky carefully took it off. Jaime hopped in first, followed by the other guy with a backpack, Jack, Sparky, Jason, Arron and the other one. It took them eight minutes to find an opening into the base. A set of guards on the other side was the only thing keeping him from breaking it out. They could wait a couple of minutes, as long as neither of those were Drakan and had already smelled them. Seconds felt like minutes as they ticked by. Jaime checked his watch a second time when the alarm claxon rang out. One of the guards ran leaving the one just below the vent. Jaime kicked it out and landed on top of the guy knocking him out. He looked around and saw the coast was clear before signally for the rest of them to come out.

***

The security room for the complex reminded him of the control room back at World Inc. in many ways. Anderson found it comforting for some reason. Which is why he only arched an eyebrow when the alarms went off. The men around him scrambled to their station as a result calling out their station. "So they finally come," he said to no one in particular.

"They're coming right at the front door," Perez said. "They got a huge set. I'll give them credit for that."

"Is Mr. Davidson with them?"

"Is Davidson out there?", he barked into a mic. After a moment he answered, "Nobody has a visual and none of the ones with a hand scanner has gotten hit."

"Strange," Anderson said rubbing his chin, "I'd pictured he would be leading the charge."

"He has more brains then I gave him credit for," Taylor muttered.

"Perhaps he does," Anderson agreed, but he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Could he have misjudged the man that much. One of them men grabbed Perez's attention and said something. He uttered a small, quiet curse. "Is there a problem Mr. Perez.?"

"Maybe," he said. "A post didn't report in when the alarm sounded. We can't seem to hail them either."

"Is this person usually dependable?", Anderson asked.

"Very dependable," Perez said.

"Have any of the internal scanners picked up a hit yet?"

Taylor looked confused, "You don't really think…?"

"It makes sense does it not Mr. Taylor?", Anderson replied. "We have a major rebel offensive right at our doorstep, yet Mr. Davidson is nowhere to be found. Now we have a man missing at his post. While there are probably several ways to interpret the information only one scenario seems to fit the facts, to my mind any way. With one goal I would imagine."

"They're going to try and take out the Fusion operatives," Taylor said in understanding.

"I'll have the guard upped around the chamber," Perez announced.

"As quietly as possible," Mr. Perez," Anderson told him. "Let's not alert Mr. Davidson that we're on to him just yet."

"I don't think he's stupid enough to come in alone," Taylor said. "I'm aware the Fusion system is designed to act solo but everything has its limits."

"You're probably right Mr. Taylor. Find General Rhodes and take some men down there. I'm sure Dr. Armstrong is already aware of what is going on." Anderson left the security room right after Taylor. He wondered how far Davidson would get to his target. Well there was only one way to find out.

***

Like when they were trying to save Friedman Jack couldn't shake the feeling he was broadcasting their location like a lighthouse on a foggy night. So he was looking around more than everybody else to make sure nobody else was coming. Jaime made them stop once to check out a map on the wall. There was some grumbling from Sparky and Jason about it but they would have a better time finding their target if they knew where it was. "It looks like this place is only one level," Arron commented. "That's good for us, we won't have to worry about getting trapped in a stairwell."

"So where is the freak at?" Jason snapped.

"The big section here labeled 'lab' might be a good starting point," Arron said.

"How far is it?", Jaime asked.

"Down this hall a ways if I'm reading this right," he replied. "It looks like most of the hallways connect to it."

"Then we won't get lost," Jack commented.

"But we could still get ambushed from one of these connecting corridors," Jaime pointed out. "So everybody keep your eyes open."

"What if I wanted to walk backwards with my eyes closed?", Jack asked. Everybody just looked at him. "Hey I'm nervous as hell right now. So it's either crack crappy jokes or beat up the chimp. Take your pick."

"I'd like to see you try bug," Jason sneered.

"One more time, dead to rights twice," Jack shot back.

"Put a clamp on it you two," Jaime ordered. "This is going to be close to impossible as it is without us making the job easier for them. Let's go, the job's not getting done any faster."

***

Melissa left Rachel alone when Angie came by and started talking to her. Right now they could probably help each other get through this better than she could at the moment. She was going over her own worst case scenarios as it was. And a couple of them ended up with Anderson's troops busting down the doors in a few hours. She really needed to talk to one person in particular, fortunately she was right there in plain sight. "How are you doing child?", Emily asked as she started walking with her.

"I've been better," she said truthfully. "I'm trying to keep positive in front of the others but I can't shake the feeling I sent some good men to their deaths."

"They knew the risks when they volunteered," she said.

"I know. I haven't felt like this since we were forced to move from the first Habitat. Or when Chris went to face Jack in the Arena." Melissa started chuckling to herself. "Oh God Chris would be right there in the middle of it wouldn't he? Leading the charge, trying to inspire them when they're at their lowest. Being the biggest target out there, outside of Jack that is."

"I think that would be debatable in Anderson's eyes child," Emily joined in.

"True,' Melissa agreed. "Maybe if Chris was still around it would give them a better chance of survival. Of course if Chris was still here I doubt Jack would be on our side."

"Maybe not as soon as he was," Emily said, "but Anderson would have made a mistake somewhere. The results would have been the same child. Of that I have no doubt. We all have a part in this particular drama," she gave her a knowing look, "even after it is over." Melissa nodded as they continued walking.

***

They ran into a couple of guards in the halls but they were able to get them before they could sound any type of alarm as they continued on. Jack turned the last corner first and came to a dead stop. "I knew this was going a little too smoothly," he muttered as the others did the same. On the other end a group of men stood in their way. Jack recognized Taylor and Armstrong in front of the group. The general beside them he'd never seen before. And the combined World Inc. and army troopers looked like it was just one big blob. Jack didn't hesitate in activating the system, "Henshin!" While the armor formed around him Arron, Sparky and Jason reverted into their wolf, eel and monkey forms. Jaime changed into a blue badger while him men turned into a red tiger and frog. On the other end Taylor, Armstrong and the general turned into a green cougar, tarantula and rhino respectively.

Snapping the staff to its full length Jack ran at them with Arron and Jaime right behind him while Jason, Sparky and the others soon followed. Jack immediately targeted the rhino as it did the same. He went low at the last second and was able to knock its leather like legs out from under it. Arron and Taylor went at it tooth and nail while Armstrong ordered the troops to get involved as he went in. Jason and the rest took them on eagerly. A couple of World Inc. troopers jumped on top of Jack that he quickly flung off. It was enough time for the rhino to pick him up and ram him into the wall, "Oof," and he dropped the staff. Sparky came in shocked the rhino enough to get it off of him. A couple of troopers that hung back opened fired. Sparky took a shot to the shoulder while one of Jaime's men went down dead to a shot in the head. "No!", Jack forced himself off the wall and got in the line of fire to deflect some of the bullets. It was enough of a distraction for Jaime and Jason to break away and take out the gunmen.

Taylor batted around Arron with no apparent problem. The wolf put up a valiant fight but the cougar was too experienced and much stronger. "I'm going to deal with you personally traitor," Taylor told him bearing his claws.

Grimacing through the pain Sparky grabbed the staff on the floor and turned the dial all the way. "Arron!", he shouted and threw it.

The wolf got away from Taylor just long enough to grab it. Jamming the end into the cougar's chest he popped the electrode. The charge went through him, Taylor backed up a couple of feet before exploding. Arron turned and ran toward Sparky who was staring at a World Inc. trooper come at him with that spike extended from his club. "No you don't!" he said as he cracked the human in the face with the end of the staff. Arron got in front of Sparky to ward off anybody else as the eel slowly got to his feet. "Hang in there man."

"You kidding," he grunted, "it's only a flesh wound."

"With a whole lot of blood."

"Let me live in denial will ya."

Armstrong bit the other man in Jaime's group and ejected his poison into him and let him drop. Jason pounced on him in the next second. Jack and the rhino pounded on each other. Jack just being able to stay one step ahead of him. Then a trooper snuck up behind him and slashed him in the arm with the spike, "Argh." He grabbed it on instinct as he kicked the man hard in the chest. Another one came up and got him in the leg. Jack grunted in pain as he dropped to a knee. "Perez finish him off now!" the rhino ordered. He raised the staff for the kill. Jaime came out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground. "If you want anything done right," the rhino said as he hauled Jack up and pushed him away. Then it tried to run his horn through his chest armor. The armor held but he was still went flying back. "I don't see what Anderson ever saw in you," the Drakan sneered as Jack slowly got back to his feet.

Armstrong tried to bite Jason the entire time they fought. Jason sneered, four a green this one was no fighter. Grabbing one of the soldiers he threw him into the tarantula stunning it momentarily. Jason took the opportunity to grab his head and snap his neck. "Ha!" he said relishing the fact he killed a green bastard with his own hand. He grabbed the soldier again, raised him over his head and threw him into a group of World Inc. troopers.

Jack did everything to avoid that horn. The armor was holding up but he was getting battered around like crazy. The rhino charged again. He stood his ground grabbed him around the neck and fell back and planted it's head into the floor. A couple of more World Inc. pulled him back before he could follow up. Again Jack fought them off as the rhino got back up. Twisting the pod up he ran at the Drakan as the charged ran down his arm. Jack punched him in the chest and the rhino flew back before exploding. He held his leg trying to will the pain he was feeling away.

"We got to get to the operative!" Jaime shouted. Running for the fallen packs he tossed one to Arron and one to Jason. "Me and Sparky have the rest of them, go!"

"Come on Fido," Jack said as he took the staff back. "Let's finish this."

***

Jason didn't have the time to register the disgust he was feeling as they ran for the door. The bug was hobbling but he was keeping up with them. The green whelp offered to help him but he turned it down. Jason had no doubt he would be playing the sympathy card as soon as this was over. The wolf opened the door and they ran in. Then they stopped. There were humans floating in tubes. The tubes filled the entire room. The bug cursed under his breath as he looked at them. "I think we got a problem," the wolf said.

"A beautiful sight," Anderson said as he walked into view, "is it not?" He stood in front of a diamond shaped device encased in glass. "I'm actually glad some of you made it this far, especially you Mr. Davidson. I wanted you to see this, the mark ones, the mark twos. I do believe there is a mark three or two in here somewhere. Those were the plans you took the other day."

"I don't really care," the bug said. "We're finishing this now."

"I'm sure you think so," Anderson said. "But there is something I want to show you first." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a remote. A press of a button and the device behind him started making a duel level sound.

"What the…?", the bug muttered. They looked at him as his armor started to phase in and out before disappearing completely. He was stunned momentarily before saying, "Ah crap."

Anderson stepped forward saying, "As I told you oh so long ago Mr. Davidson, do you really think I would have a weapon designed and not have a way to counter act it?" Eyes going cat like he changed into a green cheetah with various shades of green spots. "But you are correct about one thing. This does end today." Before anybody could react Anderson ran in and grabbed the bug and threw him into a wall. He hit hard and slowly slid to the ground. The whelp was his next target. The wolf tried to combat him but the combination of lack of experience and the previous battle had him knocked out too. Then he turned toward him.

"I've been waiting for this," Jason sneered.

"I'm sure you have," Anderson said. "Although I do want to thank you. If it wasn't for you I never would have discovered that the Fusion system would work as soon as I did. All of this," he gestured around the room, "is the result of your action."

"Then I'll rectify that mistake." Jason charged at him and was able to kick him in the gut. Anderson went back a couple of steps and Jason pressed his advantage. The monkey punched and kicked with everything he had to keep Anderson on the ropes. Then the cheetah jumped up and kicked him under the chin. Jason staggered back trying to clear the stars from his vision when he realized Anderson wasn't attacking. In fact he was he was standing there with his hands behind his back. "You smug bastard!"

Jason went at him again, this time the cheetah blocked his initial attack, biding his time. Then he took it, a straight shot to the throat. Jason gagged briefly as he struggled for air. He never had another chance to regroup. Anderson pounced on him, swiping his claws on his face s he knocked him down. Picking him up he threw him through at one of the tubes, it broke on impact as he and the occupant fell to the floor. "Oh well," Anderson said, "he was only human. Plenty more where he came from." Jason tried to get to his feet Anderson was already there, pulling him off the human and pounding him down again. Jason was a heap on the floor as Anderson walked away. Getting to his knee Jason saw him go over to the bug's fallen staff and picked it up. "I do believe it works like this," he twisted the dial all the way and popped the electrode. Looking over at him and walked back over, "Now, renounce your little rebellion and tell me where the rest are and I might spare you."

"Go to hell," Jason grunted, unable to move.

"Have it your way then." The next thing Jason knew the staff was being jammed into his neck.

***

Turning away as the rebel exploded he studied the weapon in his hand. Just like the one they developed by twisting it near the center it retracted to its original size. He was amazed that the rebels were able to create such a variant to their design. He was even more amazed that the people under him never thought of it first. Question would have to be asked. That was for later though. Dropping the staff he turned toward the young wolf. "Your father would be so disappointed in you. I should remove this disgrace to his family line."

"Anderson," Davidson grunted as he slowly got to his feet. Ripping that ridicules cap off his head he glared at him.

He sighed as he said, "Come now Mr. Davidson, is this really necessary? The day is lost, just surrender gracefully."

"Not going to happen," he said. Like he thought Davidson ran at him. Anderson easily swatted him away. Davidson tried to sweep his legs out from under him but he easily jumped over the attempt. Davidson got up punching, he stood there and took them just to show him how futile the attempt really was. This particular human either refused or was too stubborn to notice. Again he swatted him with a back hand and Davidson went down hard. Yet he still tried to get back up.

"I'm surprised you had that apparent breakdown Mr. Davidson, if you're putting up this type of fight." Davidson staggered to his feet and took a swing at him. Easily dodging the blow Anderson extended the claws on his right hand, if the human wanted to fight then he was going to give him one. Davidson saw it coming and tried to get out of the way. He wasn't fast enough as he was able to slash his cheek. Four lines of blood formed as he went down. He examined his claws seeing the blood on them. Davidson crawled over to the staff on the ground. Anderson let him amused at the fight still in him. Grabbing it he got back on his feet and extended it to the full length. Then he turned the ring all the way. "Do you think there's enough of a charge in there to defeat me?"

"Who says I'm going after you?" taking a moment too long to ponder that he didn't react in time as he turned and ran toward the diamond device. Anderson couldn't stop as he smashed the glass and jammed the other end into the device. Squeezing the handle the device exploded a moment later. The charge that went through cause a feedback in the system and things in the ceiling started exploding as well as some other things. Anderson covered his eyes from the sparks. "Henshin!" He looked at Davidson as the sparks fell and the Fusion armor formed around him.


	52. Chapter 52

Episode 52

His face felt like it was on fire as Anderson slashed his cheek with his claws. Jack had to check to make sure he didn't tear his face off when he saw the staff lying there. It looked so far away it wasn't even funny. Still it was the only idea he had at the moment so he crawled for it. Jack was expecting Anderson to pounce on him at any moment but he slowly made his way toward the staff. Jack didn't feel anything as he grabbed it and struggled to his feet. Snapping it to its full length he twisted the ring all the way, if this didn't work he was dead. "Do you think there's enough of a charge in to defeat me?" Anderson taunted.

"Who says I'm going after you?" Turning around he ran for the device. Swinging for the fences he broke the glass around it with the other end. Not even stopping to see where Anderson was he jammed the other end into it and popped the electrode. The device sparked a couple of seconds later. The sparks ran up the wires connecting it and then parts of the ceiling started to short out. As the sparks rained down on top of them he finally looked at Anderson. He was standing there shielding himself from the shower.

Ignoring the pain in face, arm, leg and everywhere else he was feeling it Jack raised his left arm across his chest. The belt materialized around his waist a moment later. Swinging his arm to the side he raised his right arm to his face. "Henshin!", he shouted as he slammed his hand down on top of the belt. Anderson looked at him as the belt scanned his body and covered him in the black body suit and blue insect style armor of the system.

Then Anderson started clapping, momentarily reverting to his human form. Jack took a step back as he walked foreword. "An excellent job Mr. Davidson," he said, "a truly excellent job. I must say you have performed better than I ever dreamed possible. I must say I'm feeling a little bit of pride when I look at you."

"I'm touched," he said sarcastically. "But tell me one thing, why were you so interested in my condition a while back."

"Curiosity mainly," Anderson answered him, "and I'll admit a little bit of concern as well. The person I saw didn't seem the like the type to succumb to a mental breakdown, or whatever it was that was afflicting you. But honestly I knew you wouldn't be down forever, I knew you would be able to pull yourself back together eventually." They looked at each other for a few more seconds, "I suppose there is only one way for this to end?"

"Yup," Jack said. In the next instant Anderson changed back into his cheetah form and Jack rushed him. He got in a punch before the Drakan could react. The cheetah stumbled back from the impact. He had a feeling Anderson was one of those warrior kings so he wasn't going to give him any breathing room as he pressed the attack. He tried to pound Anderson down but the Drakan refused to go down. Suddenly he pressed an attack of his own swiping in claws at his chest armor. Jack was pushed back and saw Anderson come at him.

Falling back Jack got his foot on his gut and was able to flip him. The cheetah hit the tube behind him hard. Jack got up and aimed a kick at his head. Anderson moved at the last second and his foot went through the glass of the tube. The blue goop inside poured through the opening as he tried to get free. He wasn't fast enough as Anderson grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Then he picked him up and threw him through another tube. Jack freed himself from the person inside and threw a right cross as Anderson jumped at him. He connected flushed in the head and could tell he stunned him. Jack grabbed him and threw him into a tube in return. Going in his head snapped back as a foot kicked him under the chin. Trying to quickly clear the stars he didn't see Anderson until it was too late. He grabbed Jack by the head and slammed him to the floor.

Putting a foot on his throat he pressed down with all he had. Jack struggled to breath before grabbing the foot and forced it off his neck. Sucking in the air as fast as he could he backed away from Anderson. "This is most exhilarating Mr. Davidson," he told him, "I haven't had this type of a workout in quite some time."

Jack looked around him at the other doors. Arron was just starting to come too and they didn't need the EMP device to get damaged. "Why don't we take this where we'll have a little more room?" He ran for the nearest door with Anderson right behind him.

***

"Do we have a progress report?", Melissa asked. Rachel, Emily and the others huddled around the comm. center. Their cell and the others had never had ran an operation this big before and she was amazed there was an audio connection to their forces. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing at the moment.

"It just came in a couple of seconds ago," the man at it said. "Anderson's troops have the opening pretty well protected. They're pretty much at a stalemate at the moment. Susan had an idea though, she sent a small group to the vent Jaime and the others used. She's thinking they can surprise them from behind."

"At the very least," Rachel said, "they'll divide their attention." Melissa squeezed her shoulder, she was doing everything to not think were Jack was in the middle of that mess. "That should increase their odds."

"I can't help but think Chris would have something inspirational to say here," Melissa said. "He'd be there saying it personally but he'd still be saying it."

"They knew what the stakes were child," Emily told her.

"What if Jack takes out Anderson?", Rachel asked suddenly. "What's going to happen then? I mean he took over the company after killing Allen's father. He's going to have something in place. What if the next guy is worse than him? If that's even possible."

She could feel Emily look at her. She knew what Chris planned to do and she really didn't want to think about it, but she knew she had to go through with it if they had any chance of surviving. Still she told Rachel, "Let's just say we're going to have to act fast."

***

Somehow Davidson led them to a manufacturing lab. Yes they had more room to maneuver, but there were still some rather heavy equipment to use. A fact Davidson proved when he picked up something and threw it at him. Anderson easily ducked it and continued after him. Before he could grab something else Anderson jumped on top of him, swiping at his head on the way down. Small sparks flew as his claws scratched the metal of his helmet. Hauling him up he kicked him in the gut and kneed him in the head to get him back standing. A jumping spin kick knocked him into a table. Anderson grabbed and threw him into a series of lockers. He fell to the ground but still he tried to get back up. "I do realize you are angry that I killed the monkey before you had the chance Mr. Davidson, but really. Why continue to get up?"

"Because… because," he said between breath as he got to his knees, "I'm their champion." Getting a foot under him he started to stand, "And thanks to you I finally figured it out." Hunched over he looked at him, "I'm not angry you killed the monkey. I'm pissed you thought you had the right to do this to them!" Standing at his full he finished, "I'm stopping you no matter what."

"Brave words Mr. Davidson," Anderson told him, but he could tell he was still in pain. Despite that Davidson waved him on and he obliged.

***

The last time Jack felt this exhausted was when he was fighting Melissa's brother and his men. Like back then he knew he had to keep going, this time more than ever. Because the rebels were never going to be safe as long as this Drakan was still around. But it was strange, while he was fighting Anderson he had never felt so right about anything in his life. As he ran in with a jaw that jacked Anderson's jaw he knew they were right, this was his destiny and he stopped fighting it.

He was able to grab the cheetah from behind and threw him over his head. The Drakan flipped in the air and landed on his feet, a backhand as he turned around floored him. Getting to a knee Jack clasped his hands together and swung for the fences again. He saw a tooth fly out of the cheetah's mouth. Jack ran in as he stumbled back and jumped off Anderson's leg as he kicked him in the side of the head. Running in again he grabbed him around the waist and picked him up, slamming him into the wall. Holding him there Jack slammed his fist into the Drakan's gut repeatedly. Suddenly he grabbed his wrist and twisted. Jack went down to a knee as it felt like he was going to tear his arm right out of its socket. Anderson let go and grabbed him around the shoulders and slammed him against the wall again and again and again.

On the last one the cheetah let go and walked away for some reason. Jack tried to stand up again as he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Anderson rammed some sort of drill press into the side of his head. As Jack went back down he hit with it again and again and again. He felt some sort of breeze while his heard ringing in his ears when he finally stopped. Jack felt him pick him up and drag him away from the wall before getting him a seated position and standing over him. Then he felt those claws on his cheek again as he realized the helmet was cracked open. On instinct he tried to stop him as Anderson tried to rip it off of him. There were several small cracking sounds that turned into one long on before the Cheetah roared and strained as his helmet broke in half.

Taking a step back to regain his footing as Jack fell backwards Anderson studied his face. Then he looked at the front half of his helmet before dropping it to the ground. "Now it ends Mr. Davidson."

***

Emily walked away from the rest of the group for the moment. Although all of them knew her gift didn't work that way every so often one of them would look in her direction. She could see the question in their eyes even though they never asked it. She didn't walk away because they wanted to ask it, she walked away because she did not have an answer for them. And that hurt her more than it usually did.

But occasionally she would get a flash of something, multiple images, multiple outcomes of Jack's encounter with Anderson. And not all of them ended with Jack being victorious. But she had to have faith in Jack, they needed him to finish the fight, she just prayed he would survive the outcome.

***

Even though he was now maskless Davidson still fought. Although he was trying to defend his head more now that it was exposed he didn't change his strategy all that much. In a small way this human was actually earning his respect. A feat only Mitchell was able to accomplish up till now. Davidson was able to catch him off guard when he jumped up and caught him with an elbow strike that landed between his eyes. Anderson was momentarily stunned, enough that Davidson was able to pick him up around the waist and slam both of them down to the floor. He pounded away at him, it took everything he had to push him off and free himself. Again Davidson got to his feet fighting, the tenacity of this particular human.

This time Anderson grabbed him and tried to drive him into a wall. That wall turned out to be a door as it opened a second after impact. They sprawled on the floor of a large construction bay of some kind, with multiple catwalks above them. Both of them scrambled to their feet. Davidson had reacted first as he was able to grab his head and began throwing knees into his face. He captured the human's leg and with a grunt and a roar was able to throw him over his head. Before Davidson could get up Anderson hauled him up and hurled him into a nearby table. He was disgusted with himself for taking the fight to this level but in battle you had to do what you had to do. Davidson tried to use the table for support, so he kicked his leg out from under him. Picking him up again he threw him into a wall. Davidson grunted in pain as he fell to all fours.

"A valiant effort Mr. Davidson, a truly valiant effort," he grunted trying to compose himself as he walked toward him. Davidson was staying on the ground this time. "But unfortunately for you this day was already decided." Davidson was able to get to a kneeling position but his face showed he was still in pain. "A long time ago I went to see the seer like so many others. She told me two things. My decisions would change our world. And no human could truly hurt me. So while I admire your fighting spirit this was over before it really ever begun. Goodbye Mr. Davidson, I will honor and respect your memory."

He raised his right fist at his exposed head, one quick killing blow to end it. Davidson caught it with his left hand so he tried it again with his other hand. Again he caught it. Holding on to his fist he stood. When he picked up his head Anderson couldn't hide his disbelief, there was a fire in his eyes that wasn't there before. "Then start shaking," he growled right before letting go and hitting him with a right cross. "Because thanks," he followed up with a left, "to you" again with the right, "I'm not," a left, "exactly," a right, "human," a left, "any," a right, "more!" another left. Anderson fell back, Davidson picked him up and started throwing him into the various pieces of equipment in the room.

Leaning against a table Davidson came up behind him. Swinging an elbow back out of desperation he was able to get a glancing blow. It was enough to cut open the side of his forehead as he went down. Picking him up again he threw him on top of the table and held him there. "You may be an enhanced human but you are still human Davidson." He had his claws out for a killing strike. Davidson was able to knee him in the side, distracting him long enough to get away.

***

Jack knew this was going to be tough but damn. And he was really hoping he didn't miss that opening Emily told him about. He couldn't think about it, he had to concentrate on stopping Anderson. Jack jumped on a table and rolled to the other side as the Drakan tried to claw his face off again. Looking around he saw an impact hammer and threw it at him. Anderson jumped up to avoid it grabbing one of the catwalk above them. Pulling himself up he balanced himself on the railing before jumping to a higher level. "No you don't," Jack grunted as he ran for the nearest set of stairs to chase after him.

When he reached the same level he was on Jack fell to a knee and held his gut, not able to ignore it anymore. His helmet may be off but he was positive the meter was on continuous flash right now. He had to end this now. Getting back to his feet he stared at Anderson on the other end and he stared right back. Through his teeth he said, "Rider kick," and ran at him.

***

Anderson knew what he was going to do before he announced it. So he ran at him in return, claws out intending to rip out his jugular like he did the senior Allen. Davidson twisted the pod down as he ran. He could see the massive charge go down his leg, he grunted in pain as it did but still he came at him. A warrior to the end, he would break with tradition just this one time to herald him into the afterlife. Both of them jumped up. Davidson positioned himself for the kick. He was ready for the killing blow.

Suddenly Anderson remembered a time from his youth. He was seeing the seer, as tradition demanded. She told him, like she told so many others, his apparent destiny. It went exactly like he remembered it until one moment. She said, "No ordinary human will be able to hurt you." That wasn't what she said, she said no human not no ordinary human.

That brief distraction was enough that Davidson kicked him in the chest. The charge he absorbed threw him back hard as he felt himself being ripped apart on the inside. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to change their…

***

Jack landed as Anderson flew back and hit the other end of the catwalk. He exploded and Jack went down and clutched at his leg, damn it he did it again. But he did it, he actually did it. Part of him was expecting a hoard of World Inc. Shock troops to bust in and surround him but none where coming. Slowly getting back up he limped down the stairs, he had to find out what happened to the others. Finding his way back to the main lab and the other Fusions he found what was left of their particular unit who were in their human forms. Sparky shoulder had a makeshift bandage around it. Both him and Jaime looked worse for wear but they were still moving. Arron was sporting a few new bruises but he was still alive as well. He was working on the EMP device when he looked up and saw him. "Damn man, you look like hell."

Jack grinned a bit, "You should see the other guy Fido." He's been waiting a long time to say that. "Are we ready to blow that thing or what?"

"We hit a little snag," Jaime said. "The timer got busted during the fight. Me and Arron we able to hook up a hand trigger, so one of us is going to have to stay behind. I imagine whatever troops are left will be barging in her after it happens."

"Yeah but is it going to be big enough?", Jack asked as he gestured around the room.

"We think that controls the life support system," Jaime pointed to a computer room behind a glass wall on the other side. "We're going to set it off in there."

"Hopefully it works," Sparky winced.

"Same here," Arron said. "I was able to look at some of these tubes. I think there might be an internal back up in case of a massive power failure. I really couldn't tell for sure."

"We got to risk it," Jaime told him. "We're not going to be safe as long as long as even one of these Fusion operatives are around."

"Yeah," Jack said absentmindedly. Sparky saw the look on his face and started to say something before Arron announced.

"We're ready to go. Somebody just has to hit the trigger right here." As he stood up Jack punched him out.

"Jack what the hell?!", Jaime demanded.

Grabbing the device he headed for the computer room, "Get out of here while you can. This might be your only chance."

"Jack stop," Sparky cried out.

"You of all people can't be the one who does this," Jaime tried to tell him.

Jack stopped and looked at them, "You said it yourself Jaime. You're not going to be safe until all the Fusions are gone. That includes me, because who knows how long before somebody tries to use me against you. Guys it's been real and it's been fun. I guess that means it's been real fun." He headed back toward the computer room. They didn't try to stop him as he hit the control on the glass door.

Putting the device down in the center of the room he hit the top of the belt, he wanted to look like a man when this went down. What was left of his armor faded away as the pain he was feeling increased but he ignored it. Looking out the glass at the people in the tubes he said to them, "Trust me I'm doing you a favor." He started to hit the trigger but he hesitated. Tears forming and starting to fall he closed his eyes, "I'm sorry Rachel." He hit the trigger.

***

There was a commotion going on around her. People were praying. People working communications were shouting out updates about what was going on. But right now Rachel wasn't paying attention to any of it. For some reason she felt suddenly cold and alone. Her eyes started to water as a word escaped her lips, "Jack."

***

"Get that tube working now!"

"I can't get it to come on!"

"Don't you do this to her Jack, do you hear me? Do not do this to her!"

***

Five months, it had been five months since Anderson died. And like she told Rachel they had to act quickly the moment they found out. Emily told her once that Chris never planned to take over World Inc. after they took Anderson out of power. He was going to give it to her thinking she could have done a better job than he ever could. In those five months she tried to prove him right. They were able to use a fairly common rule of family succession to take over. Since her cousin never had any children of his own and she was the closest thing he had to family in the area she was able to claim the company as hers. Fortunately any of the Drakan under him that was powerful enough to challenge her claim were lost months ago. That still didn't stop those who remained from voicing their displeasure or leaving outright. Looking back Melissa realized that was the easy part.

No the hard part was coming up, and she was dreading this to no end. They were in no shape to defend themselves if the other pacts decided to push the matter through force. Still she had to try, they fought for the right to live they wanted for so long Melissa was not going to let it slip through their fingers. The door opened and she stood up from behind her desk, and it was her desk. She had just about everything in the office removed a couple of days after she took over. Not out of any need to make this hers, but his presence seemed to come off as a vibe from just about everything in there, and that made her feel uncomfortable.

Walking around the glass desk that replaced his wooden one she greeted the group that came in. Arron and his father Thomas, a few other pact Alphas from nearby cities, and of course Emily. "Please, why don't you have a seat." She took her chair behind the desk as Arron stood behind his father as he and the others took the offered chairs. She didn't fail to notice that Emily sat on the couch. "I'm grateful you could take the time for this meeting.

"We're just trying to see what crap you're trying to pull," one of them said. "Trying having some sort of beacon for 'equality' between the classes and stirring up trouble." Arron started to say something but a look from her and his father kept him quiet.

"We're not trying to pull or stir up anything," she told him. Addressing the group she said, "What we want is what we always wanted, to live our lives in peace. No more and no less."

"Why should we believe that?", another demanded. "You're actions up till now weren't all that peaceful."

She didn't need her gift to see the contempt and arrogance in most of them. "While I freely admit that some individuals own actions were more violent than any of us would have liked, they were a minority. The rest of the time we were acting in self-defense, seeing how some refused to let us live peacefully and actively hunted us down." A couple of them shifted in their seats uncomfortably, unfortunately the rest held firm.

"So what are you planning on doing now?", the first one asked. "Are you going to turn this city into a staging ground to alter our very way of life?"

"It was never our intent to force our way of life onto others," Melissa answered. "If anybody wants to drop the old ways behind and live with us peacefully we will welcome them with open arms. But," she leaned forward slightly, "if we ever find out that somebody was sent in to disrupt what we're trying to do we will fight back." She looked at each of them. A few were impressed with her conviction, still the others…

"That sounded like a threat," one said standing up.

"Sit down," Arron's father said.

"But Thomas," a look from him silenced him and made him sit down. Melissa held her breath. Arron's father was a very powerful alpha. Their future may very well depend on him. They studied each other for a moment.

Finally he said, "Alright, we'll leave you alone." Like she expected most of them protested. Another look silenced all of them. "Let them live in their little fairy world. Sooner or later this little experiment will fail." They nodded I silent agreement. Melissa just arched an eyebrow.

They left only leaving herself, Emily, Arron and his father. "I studied that file about Anderson activities you released to us," Thomas said after awhile, "especially the ones dealing with the Drakan Killer. Although that file seemed a tad incomplete."

"It didn't seem like a good idea to just give out the information on how to build one," she told him.

Thomas nodded, "I would have done the same. You know your cousin tried to tell me he was a creation by you rebels, a concoction to get people on your side." Before she could say anything he continued, "My son told me about the man behind this particular myth. What was your take of him?"

"We had a rough start but I eventually considered him my friend."

"A pity he's no longer around. I was hoping I could thank him for sparing my son." Looking at Arron he said, "I'll be downstairs, I'll give you a few minutes." He stopped at the door mumbling, "Thank you for looking after my boy," then left.

Left speechless she saw Emily started to leave as well, "I do believe that worked out better than you thought. But it was just one step child, one of many." As she left she said something confusing as well, "I told him he would change our world."

While she pondered that particular statement she turned her attention to Arron, "So what are you planning on doing now?"

"I'm still working it out," he admitted. "I want to help you guys out here but my dad needs me too. Maybe I can direct some guys this way while I working on making some changes on my own. I guess we'll find out how it goes in the long run."

"You're always welcomed here Arron," she told him, "I hope you know that."

"I do," he said gratefully. His mood changed a bit, "How is she?"

"Still the same," Melissa said. "I was planning on heading over and seeing them today. Dusty said she could use the company."

***

She looked out at the lake as she sat on a crate at the end of the docks. The chilly air made her tighten the jacket around her, his jacket. After all this time she could still smell him when she wore it. She remembered a long time ago when she tried to get him to give her this jacket during a cold night stakeout.

"Rachel!" she looked behind her and saw Dusty standing at the entrance of the warehouse. She jumped off the crate and ran toward him not able to read his face. Trying not to get her hopes up for nothing. She looked inside and her heart jumped. Inside the same make shift labs that housed hiss friend Angie, Sparky and Friedman were trying to get him to calm down. Dusty went over to help them saying, "Harry was he this much trouble the first time you pulled him out or is this a recent development?"

"He was sleeping like a baby the first time."

"Calm down son," Dusty said as they continued struggling with him.

"WHY?!" he demanded.

"Jack," Rachel said. He stopped struggling and looked at her. They let him go and backed away. She reached out to him. He backed away from her. He backed away and his eyes held noting but hurt and betrayal. "Jack," she said again, he wouldn't look at her. Her heart being torn in two she ran out of there. Tears freely falling she put a hand to her mouth, "Oh God what did I do?"

Angie and Sparky was at her side in the next moment. She said, "He's just a little disorientated right now. Give him some time to get his head together."

"Yeah," Sparky agreed, "we'll be bugging you guys to go on double dates before you know it." Rachel ignored them as she stood there crying to herself.

***

"I can officially say I wasn't expecting this," Melissa said as she sat across from Jack. Emily stood beside her. He was wearing some sweats and a T-shirt but he looked really uncomfortable. "But I can say it's a pleasant surprise." He said nothing. "It took some doing but we were able to clear your and Rachel's name. We even ended the government involvement in the company so you don't have to worry there. This one Senator made some noise but he quieted down eventually. But you didn't want to listen to me talk about business." Still he said nothing.

"Dusty and Friedman were able to figure out how to counter act the smell of Drakan blood. I had them make exactly two full treatments and destroy the formula. There no need for that to get in the wrong hands. I owed you two at least that much. Your system is still active though," she waited for any type of reaction and still got nothing. "It would have involved a major redesign of the system but we think we were able to stop you from activating the armor. Friedman is still working on it though, he sees it more as a medical thing than a military thing. And before I forget we unfroze your bank account so you should be set for awhile. Actually I pulled some strings and doubled the amount inside. I felt you deserved it after everything you did for us."

Finally he said, "Whose idea was this?"

"I think you know who," Melissa told him. He closed his eyes, "Jack…"

"My road was supposed to end when I faced Anderson," he said.

"No, you were told that this part of your journey would end," Emily spoke up. "No one said it would end permanently. I did tell you that your choices would decide your destiny."

"So if I didn't become a mass murderer I would have stayed dead?", he spat.

"Jack listen to me," Melissa said. "You did what you had to do. I don't know why you thought you had to sacrifice yourself but it's a little late to wonder about it now.

"I should have stayed dead."

"Jack you just got a second chance at a normal life," she told him. Don't waste it acting like this."

***

He stood at the end of the peer looking out at the sun starting to set. Standing there in a black tee, jeans and sneakers he was starting to feel the chill in the air. In his hands was the front half of his helmet. Why they decided to save this piece of junk was beyond him. He reared back to throw it into the lake but stopped. Looking at it he brushed his fingers lightly over it. Was it actually over? He still couldn't believe it.

Hearing footsteps behind him Jack looked back and saw Rachel standing a few feet away holding his jacket. She let her hair grow out, how did he not notice that until now? "It looks like you might need this." She held it out to him.

Looking back out at the lake he told her, "Keep it." That came out harsher than he wanted. He added, "It looks better on you anyway."

"How are you feeling?"

"I don't know," he answered. And he didn't. They told him so much about what happened in the past five months he was still trying to process it all. For some reason he wanted to ask, "Where have you been staying?"

"At Dusty's when I wasn't here," her voice cracked a bit. "He says he wants you there too. I can take the couch this time if it helps. I want to talk to you about why…"

"I was fine with the idea I wasn't coming back," he blurted.

"I wasn't," she told him. He couldn't say anything so she eventually started to walk away.

He tried to convince himself it was for the best. Yeah he was shocked she went to this length but he was over the initial shock. Jack wanted desperately to go to her but deep down he knew she deserved better than him. Why would she want to be with somebody like him? Why would she want to waste her time with somebody as screwed up as he is? Why would she put herself through that?

Why was he hearing Richie threaten to come back and kick his ass if he let her walk away?

"Rachel," he said. She stopped and looked at him. Oh God what was he going to say to her? "I… used to go to this café pretty regular before all of this started. I was wondering if it was still open after all of this time." He gulped a bit, "I think I saw jambalaya on the menu once. It might have been a onetime special, I don't really remember."

"I guess there's only one way to find out," she said starting to smile. One step by both of them quickly turned into a run. The moment they were within reach they wrapped their arms around each other. Both of them cried as they held on to the other for a long time.

"God I was being a jerk," he said thinking about how he was acting.

"That's because you are a jerk," she told him. Looking at him she added, "But you're my jerk. I'm still willing to sleep on the couch if you do want to stay with Dusty for a while."

"I really don't want to be alone tonight," he told her as he kissed her. Taking the jacket from her he helped her put it on. Reaching behind her he put the hood over her head, "It's getting cold out here. I don't want you catching anything." About then both of them noticed he was still holding the front half of his helmet.

"What are you going to do with that?", she asked.

"It might sound a little strange but I was thinking about keeping it. Kinda as a memento of where we started." She smiled and agreed with him. Looking at her he said what was in his heart, "I love you Rachel Haily."

"I love you too you big lug." Taking his hand she led him away from the dock. "Come on, the others have been planning a welcome back party for you since you woke up. But afterwards you are all mine Jack Davidson."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." The sun set as they walked, ready to face whatever this new road was going to take them.


End file.
